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    Sale 1264

    FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART

    New York

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    18 September 2003

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    • A RARE CIZHOU PAINTED FIGURE O
    Lot 289 | PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. AND MRS. JAMES E. BREECE III Read more

    A RARE CIZHOU PAINTED FIGURE OF ZHENWU

    YUAN/EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH-15TH CENTURY

    Price realised

    USD 7,768

    Estimate

    USD 5,000 - USD 6,000

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    A RARE CIZHOU PAINTED FIGURE OF ZHENWU
    Yuan/early Ming dynasty, 14th-15th century
    The Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven hollow-molded and shown in civil aspect seated on a cloth-draped throne with a snake-coiled tortoise at his feet, all raised on a rectangular plinth, and painted in dark brown and russet brown on a white slip under a clear glaze
    11¼in. (28.5cm.) high

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    Lot Essay

    A virtually identical figure of Zhenwu, the Daoist deity of the north, was unearthed in Miyun County, Beijing, and is now in the Beijing Cultural Relics Research Institute; see Urban Life in the Song, Yuan & Ming, Singapore, 1994, p. 70. Like the present lot, this figure is paired with the 'Dark Warrior,' a tortoise coiled by a snake, which is associated with the north and with winter, and the sleeves of his robe are decorated with images of the Big Dipper.

    Other information

    Pre-Lot Text

    PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. AND MRS. JAMES E. BREECE III

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