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A POTTERY FIGURE OF A FEMALE DANCER
Tang Dynasty
The slender figure wearing a tight high-waisted robe with out-flaring
shoulder projections and long sleeves falling to her knees above
a long skirt with billowing streamers and upturned, ruyi shoes, the
hair fashionably arranged in a high chignon and surrounded by an
elaborate headdress, holding a round implement wrapped within with
strings or ribbons, with traces of polychrome pigments.
43.3cm (17 1/8in) high

£8,000 - 10,000 CNY73,000 - 92,000
HK$88,000 - 110,000

唐 陶胎彩繪女舞俑

Provenance: Rolf, Lord Cunliffe (1899-1963), Honorary Keeper of the
Far Eastern Collections at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
The Cunliffe Collection, no.PT28, and thence by descent

Exhibited and Published:
Oriental Ceramic Society, The Arts of the T’ang Dynasty, London,
25 February - 30 March 1955, no.30

來源： 劍橋菲茨威廉博物館東方藝術部名譽主任，
Rolf Cunliffe勳爵 (1899-1963)
Cunliffe收藏，藏品編號PT28，並由後人保存迄今

展覽及出版：
1955年2月25日至3月30日於倫敦東方陶瓷學會
「The Arts of the T’ang Dynasty(唐代藝術)」特展展出，展品30號

Pottery figures, such as the present one, were incorporated within a
complex of furnishing that presented the deceased with a miniaturised
universe where they were deemed to continue their after life existence.
Underground chambered tombs were thus constructed for the highest
ranking members of the Tang society and decorated in a way that
suggested a courtly compound consisting of sumptuous halls and
luxuriant gardens. Providing the dead with the necessities they needed
in their afterlife was viewed as a way to prompt their benign conduct
towards their living offspring. Gracious figures of servants, courtiers,
musicians, ladies engaging in leisurely pursuits and female dancers,
thus complemented the colourful frescoes, depicting the frivolous
moments of daily life that reflected the prosperity of the time. For
references, see J.Rawson, ‘Changes in the representation of life and
the afterlife as illustrated by the content of tombs of the T’ang and
Song period’, in Smith, M.K.H.(ed.), Arts of the Sung and Yuan, New
York, 1996, pp.23-43.

Compare a related pottery figurine of lady, dated late 7th century -
early 8th century, modelled with similar oval face, tight waist
and slender legs, in the collection of Robert Rousset, no.MA4724,
illustrated in Compagnons d’ếternitế, Paris, 1997, p.173,
and another in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, no.1978.345.

FINE CHINESE ART | 35