TWO PAINTED POTTERY TOMB FIGURES


Tang dynastyThe first a foreign groom with a heavy beard and mustache, dressed in cloth cap, a pouch tucked under the belt encircling his coat with turned-back flaps as he stands with his hands raised to hold the reins of his horse or camel, his boots attached to a low curving plinth; the second a camel standing at rest with its legs attached to a rectangular plinth, the saddle bags slung between its humps showing flaps in the form of animal heads; both sculptures retaining remains of polychrome pigments on white slip. 15 1/4in (38.7cm) height of groom12 3/4in (30cm) length of camel
|Provenance of the groom Berwald Oriental Art, New York, 11 April 2005 The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test sample no. C103t56, dated 9 October 2003 is consistent with the dating of the foreign groom.For a similarly dressed and bearded foreign groom, also standing in the same pose on a kidney bean-shaped plinth, see, Simon Kwan, Chinese Sculpture: Muwen Tang Collection Series 10 (2011), no. 55, pp. 162-34.