pre-song figures
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pre-song figures |
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A red-painted pottery figure of a standing horse The well-proportioned horse stands four-square on slender legs with finely modelled hooves and fetlocks. The neck is held upright, supporting the head facing forwards with an alert expression, the ears pricked back, the eyes set beneath prominent brows, the nostrils flared, and the mouth open showing the teeth. The long furrowed back extends to the pronounced hindquarters, with a hole for fitting the detachable bound tail. The body and tail are painted a dusty red overall. The head is similarly red-painted, with the bridle and teeth picked out in white, the nostrils in red, and the pupils in black. The underside of the body has a small firing hole, showing the grey pottery. Horses modelled using these conventions of anatomy and stance have been recovered, often with riders, from a number of excavations dating to the Western Han dynasty, most famously that at Yangjiawan, near Xianyang, Shaanxi province. They were not domestic animals, but served as war-horses in the cavalries built up during the Han dynasty to counter the nomadic tribes on China’s borders. The nomads, with their traditionally superior horsemanship, were a continual irritant to the settled Chinese. Condition : Repaired breaks to ears, legs, as typical. Tail partly restored. Stock No. 836 Price : On Request
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A green-glazed pottery figure of a standing guard-dog The dog stands four-square on columnar legs with splay-toed feet. The powerful head is held high with the dome-shaped eyes gazing slightly upwards. The ears flap forwards, the nostrils are flared, and the mouth, with upper lip scored to indicate folds in the skin, is partly open, revealing long teeth and a small tongue. The neck is encircled by a collar with a design of stamped tear-shapes, fastened with a buckle, linked by means of a strong ring and loop to a similarly patterned and buckled belt passing around the animal’s chest. Above the square hindquarters rises a curly tail. A green lead glaze is applied overall, turning to an iridescent silvery colour. The large hole on the underside reveals the red pottery body. For an example of a similar green-glazed guard-dog in the T.T.Tsui Gallery of Chinese Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, see Rose Kerr, Chinese Art and Design, p.48, fig. 14. Of the ‘Six Domestic Animals’, the dog is the one most frequently represented in Han tombs, though it is not clear whether this is because of its reputation for fidelity, or whether the ferocious nature of the guard-dog served some kind of apotropaic function, guarding the tomb as it guarded the house. Condition : Repaired breaks to legs, front of one ear and one tooth. Stock No. 828 Price : On Request
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A green-glazed pottery figure of a bull The beast is modelled standing four-square with the massive head and shoulders lowered. The prominent eyes are set beneath heavy brows scored to indicate folds in the skin, above the tapering nose scored along its length, and the small mouth open below. The head wears a halter, secured by a loop through the nose, and with straps along the nose and across it, across the forehead, and behind the forward-pointing curved horns and long ears, with bosses at the crossing-points. A knobbed bony ridge runs along above the hind quarters, extending to the long straight tail. The overall glaze is of apple-green colour, pooling to a deeper tone in some places and thinning in others to show the colour of the pinkish pottery body. Condition : Repair to one side of nose ring and tips of horns. Otherwise good. Stock No. 791 Price : On Request
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A painted grey pottery lion stand This very rare stand is vigorously modelled with four crouching lions facing outwards to the four quarters, two with their mouths open as if to roar, and two with their mouths closed. It is likely that the stand had a Buddhist function, perhaps to support a temple vase. Condition : Minor repaired chips otherwise good Stock No. 761 Price : On Request
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A pair of light grey pottery lokapalas The figures are well modelled, of an unusually sturdy appearance, wearing leather armour and rope bindings, standing with the legs planted apart on a shaped base. The epaulets are fashioned in the shape of fierce animal masks, from which the arms emerge, one raised and one placed on the hip. One figure has the mouth open, as if shouting, while the other has the mouth set in a determined expression. The pottery is light grey in colour. Condition : Repairs to extremities but generally good condition Stock No. 624 Price : On Request
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A green lead-glazed pottery model of a multi-storeyed watchtower The watchtower is constructed from five sections. The lowest level is a square basin representing a moat pond. The side walls are decorated in relief with swimming ducks, ducks in the act of taking off, fish, turtles, and in the base itself, a small crab. On the flat rim are four birds, and at the front are two tall que gate towers, each with its own top and side roof, decorated on front and back with a bowing figure in a lower panel and a strange plump-looking bird with wings displayed in an upper panel. The second level is a square dais with four arched openings, and the third level is a single room with a projecting roof at the front, vents at the side, and relief design of a mounted archer on the back. The fourth level has a balustrade terrace with six large human figures, one of whom sits in a central room with open-work walls, while the remaining five, some of whom are foreign musicians, sit outside. A tiled roof with lotus-pod eaves, supported on dougong brackets, shelters the figures, and supports four bear-shaped atlantids. The fifth and uppermost level rests on the bear atlantids of the level below, and represents a second, smaller square terrace with a crossbowman at each corner, weapon raised. The roof of the fifth level has lotus pod eaves, each surmounted by the watchful figure of an owl, and a lotus pod acroterion on top. The building is applied with a dark green glaze substantially transmuted to a silvery-green tone overall. Structures of this type are usually referred to as ‘watchtowers’, though it is clear that entertainment was as important as defence in their function. In this example, on the level below the crossbowmen at the top there are musicians entertaining the figure inside the central room; and in the literature of the period there are many references to pleasure viewing from towers. The owls sitting on the eaves probably relate to the connection in early Chinese mythology between the owl and thunder, and thus serve as protection against lightning strike. Condition : Some repaired breaks Stock No. 332 Price : On Request
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A large painted pottery figure of a tomb guardian Figures like this were among the most extravagant of the Tang potters'
creations and although there were loosely-defined rules concerning their
iconography, there was also enough flexibility for the potters to give
rein to their imaginations. This example is in the form of a semi-human-faced
creature with elephant-like flappy ears,a tall, twisting hair-style, a
pair of large feathered wings, and straight legs terminating in deer's
hooves. Traces of elaborate and finely executed painted decoration still
remain, known in Chinese as zhenmu shou (literally "tomb-guardian
beast") these figures were generally made in pairs, one, as here, with
a more-or-less human face, the other with a feline face. These would have
been placed inside the tomb on either side of the door, charged with the
task of preventing evil spirits interfering with the journey of the tomb
occupant's soul to the heavenly realm. Condition : There is some restoration of spines and feathers, and some chips. In general the condition is excellent considering the vunerability of the extremities. The remaining pigment is all original. Stock No. A large painted pottery figure of a tomb guardian Price : On Request
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