EARLY TANG DYNASTY, 7TH-8TH CENTURY

This very rare figure, shown in the most unusual posture of kowtowing, is also unusual in its large size and the attention to detail in the modeling. It is similar to another large painted pottery figure of a courtier shown in an equally prostrate position and with his head held in a similar manner. This figure from Shaanxi province, is illustrated in Wenwu, 1954:10, pl. 55, and is also illustrated by J. Fontein and R. Hempel in the exhibition catalogue, China. Korea. Japan, Propylen Verlag, Berlin, 1968, pl. XIX. The figure wears a similar court hat and full robes, painted red, that fan in curves around the arms. As with the present figure, there is a slit in the top of the clasped hands for the insertion of a hu tablet. These tablets, made of ivory, were carried by court officials while in the imperial presence, and are thought to have been used as early as the Tang dynasty. An ivory tablet of this kind is illustrated in the O.C.S. exhibition catalogue, Chinese Ivories from the Shang to the Qing, British Museum, 24 May - 19 August 1984, pp. 142-43, no. 158. See, also, another similar figure, shown in a less prostrate posture, but wearing a similar court hat and robes, sold at Christie's New York, 22 March 1999, lot 251.

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. C199p47 is consistent with the dating of this lot.