The elegant figure standing straight, her left hand holding the collar of her long, loose robes, her right hand held out at chest level. The courtier’s face with delicate features and blushing cheeks below an elaborate chignon. Overall covered in a white slip.
A pottery figure of a standing courtier (Tang dynasty (618-907 AD), early 8th century)
Description
Dimensions: 38.5cm high
Provenance:
Gisèle Croës Oriental Art, Brussels, 25 October 1984 (invoice)
A private Belgian collection
Exhibited:
Biennale des Antiquaires, Paris, 1984
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd thermoluminescence test no. 366h6 is consistent with the dating of this piece.
The elegant figure standing straight, her left hand holding the collar of her long, loose robes, her right hand held out at chest level. The courtier’s face with delicate features and blushing cheeks below an elaborate chignon. Overall covered in a white slip.
This full-figured female represents the beauty ideal during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD), often linked to Yang Guifei, one of China’s renowned beauties and an influential concubine of Emperor Xuanzong (712–756 AD). A related pottery figure of a court lady, also dated Tang dynasty in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in ‘Diao Shi Ru Sheng: Gugong Cang Sui Tang Taoyong’, Beijing, 2006, no.41, p. 95. Another pottery figure is illustrated in the ‘Museum of Oriental Ceramics: Exhibition of Oriental Ceramics’, Osaka, 1982, p.21, no. 4. Compare a similar figure, offered at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2022, lot 108.
