Page 17 - Fine Chinese Art Christies London May 2018

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE EUROPEAN GENTLEMAN
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TWO RED POTTERY FIGURES OF FEMALE POLO PLAYERS dynamic riders seated on horses shown in full ‘fying gallop’, with no integral
TANG DYNASTY (618 - 907) support or stand, and elegant riders seated stifly on horses standing on a
Each spirited horse is modelled in full gallop with the rider wearing a long rectangular base. The present fgures belong to the frst category, as do the
close-ftting robe, twisted at the waist. Both riders’ heads are lowered to follow four similar fgures of female polo players in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of
the course of the ball. Each face is detailed with black and red pigments, with Art, Kansas City, referred to in Handbook of the Collections, vol. II, Art of the
traces of dark red and black pigments overall. Orient, Kansas City, 1973, p. 81. See, also, the fgure in the Tenri Museum in
The larger, 14º in. (36.2 cm.) wide, with stands Japan, illustrated by Hasebe and Sato, Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 11, Tokyo, 1976,
(2) pl. 183.
£15,000-20,000 $22,000-28,000 Also compare a group of three similarly decorated female polo players
€18,000-23,000 which was sold at Christie’s New York, 30 May 1991, lot 263, then again at
Christie’s New York, 16 September 2016, lot 1305.
PROVENANCE
Acquired in Switzerland in 1988. The results of Oxford thermoluminesence test nos. C198t3 and C198t4 are
consistent with the dating of this lot.
The earliest literary and visual evidence of polo in China dates from the 7th
and 8th centuries, including stories of polo-playing emperors and members
of the imperial family. There are two categories of pottery polo players: 唐 陶打馬球女俑一組兩件
來源: 歐洲私人珍藏, 於1988年購自瑞士
此器經牛津熱釋光測年法測試(測試編號C198t3及C198t4 )，
證實與本圖錄之斷代符合。 (2)

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