Page 39 - Bonhams May 12 16 London

21 Music was extremely popular in the Tang dynasty.
A PAINTED POTTERY FIGURE OF A MUSICIAN Institutions were set up to oversee the training and
Tang Dynasty performances of music and dances in the Imperial
The well-modelled figure wearing a long belted court such as the Great Music Bureau and the
robe with flaring sleeves and loose trousers, Drums and Pipes Bureau. Tang court music was
vividly depicted with his head and body gently mainly based on the tuning of the Kuchean lute and
leaning towards the left, both legs bent, the right drum and thousands of musicians housed within the
arm partially raised and the left hand closed as if walls of the Imperial Palace were trained to perform
strumming a pipa, the face with a serene expression orchestral pieces drawing from Central Asian
and hair gathered in a high knot, with traces of influences. For reference, see L. Picken, Music from
gilding and polychrome pigments. the Tang Court, Cambridge, 1985.
26.1cm (10 1/4in) high

£5,000 - 8,000 Related examples of Tang musicians are illustrated
HK$55,000 - 88,000 CNY46,000 - 73,000 by R. Krahl, Collection Julius Eberhardt, Early
Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 125 and in
唐 陶胎彩繪樂師俑 Galerie Lafayette, Les Tresors de la Dynasty Tang,
Paris, 1993, cat. no. 6.
Provenance: Rolf, Lord Cunliffe (1899-1963),
Honorary Keeper of the Far Eastern Collections at
the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
C.W. Moller Collection
Sotheby’s London, 13 December 1946, lot 27
Acquired from Bluett & Sons Ltd., London,
11 January 1947
The Cunliffe Collection, no.PH8,
and thence by descent

Exhibited and Published:
Oriental Ceramic Society, Two Thousand Years of
Chinese Ceramic Figures, London,
8 April - 21 June 1947, no.36
Oriental Ceramic Society, Pre-T’ang Wares, London,
29 April - 10 June 1953, no.102

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)
C.W.Moller先生舊藏
1946年12月13日於倫敦蘇富比拍賣，拍品27號
於1947年1月11日購自倫敦古董商Bluett & Sons

Ltd.
Cunliffe收藏，藏品編號PH8，並由後人保存迄今

展覽及出版：

1947年4月8日至6月21日於倫敦東方陶瓷學會
「Two Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramic Figures(
中國陶瓷俑偶二千年)」特展展出，展品36號
1953年4月29日至6月10日於倫敦東方陶瓷學會「
先唐器物(Pre-T’ang Wares)」特展展出，展品102號

FINE CHINESE ART | 37