Page 188 - 2019 September 11th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art

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A LARGE AND RARE PAIR OF Two nearly identical figures to the present 北魏 灰陶加彩文官立俑一對
PAINTED GRAY POTTERY FIGURES pair from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY were exhibited and illustrated in Art of the Six 來源
Dynasties, China Institute of America, New Russell M. Tyson (1867-1963) 收藏
each slender figure modeled in high relief, York, 1975, cat. no. 23. In the accompanying 1943年贈予芝加哥藝術博物館，芝加哥，
standing with hands clasped, wearing a full entry, Annette Juliano suggests that with their 館藏編號1943.1137及1943.1138
jacket with wide sleeves terminating in elegantly flattened backs, the figures were attached to a
undulating folds, a breastplate with buckled wall, possibly functioning as guardian figures
fasteners at the shoulders, voluminous trousers and flanking an entranceway (ibid.,p. 49),
falling in rhythmic pleats puddling at the base similar to figures both painted and in low relief
revealing the pointed tips of shoes, the head illustrated in Annette Juliano, ‘Teng-Hsien: An
gently bowed and the face sensitively modeled, Important Six Dynasties Tomb’, Artibus Asiae,
the benign expression articulated with finely Ascona, 1980, figs 54-56. Whether guardians
incised features, one figure with a small frontal or civil officials, these figures are high-ranking
cap, the other with a tall hat textured simulating attendants modeled in a formal pose and of
stiff gauze, the reverse flat-backed, traces of great symbolic importance.
pigment (2) A single figure of this type of the same
Height of taller 25½ in., 64.8 cm
dimensions wearing the smaller type of courtier
PROVENANCE cap from the Avery Brundage Collection is
in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco,
Collection of Russell M. Tyson (1867-1963). illustrated in René-Yvon Lefebvre d’Argencé,
Gifted to the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Sculpture: the
in 1943 (acc. nos 1943.1137 and 1943.1138).
Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum
The present pair of rare flat-backed figures of San Francisco. Tokyo, 1974, pl. 51. Another
exemplify the elegant artistry that marked the of this same form from the collection of Earl
latter period of the Northern Wei dynasty, when and Irene Morse, illustrated in Spirit and Ritual,
the capital city moved from Datong to Luoyang The Morse Collection of Ancient Chinese Art,
in 494. Figural sculpture of the late 5th and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
early 6th century shifted from a somewhat 1982, cat. no. 24 was sold in these rooms, 24th
static, simplified aesthetic to one imbued with March 1998, lot 551. This figure, like the pair in
more Central Asian influence manifesting the Minneapolis Museum of Art, grasps a long
fuller three-dimensionality of form, starkly sword indicating that the present pair also may
different use of proportion, and greater overall have once had swords. A related group of flat-
attention to detail. There is an emphasis on backed figures, comprised of two torsos and
frontal articulation which seems to be inspired six heads, excavated at Yongningsi, Luoyang,
by stone and metalwork Buddhist imagery of Henan and exhibited in China Dawn of a Golden
the period. Additionally, these figures feature a Age, 200-750 AD, op. cit., cat. nos 129 and
wide range of extravagant apparel resulting in a 130, is also considered to have originated as
distinctive mix of Xianbei Tuoba and traditional wall sculpture and possibly in place as early
Han-style clothing, hairstyles and headwear. A as 419 when a visit by the temple’s patron, the
variety of new headdresses are featured during Dowager Empress Hu, is recorded (ibid., pp
this period. For instance, the tall hat with visor 233-234)
and ‘ear muffs’ seen on one of the present Similar pottery figures are more commonly
figures is discussed in Ezekiel Schloss, Ancient found modeled in the round. While usually of
Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, vol. I, Stamford, smaller dimension, larger examples of the same
1977, p. 155, who notes that this style of hat was size of the present pair are known. A similar
worn by both male and female members of the pair of this type is in the Royal Ontario Museum,
aristocracy. It is also possible that it denotes Toronto, and illustrated in Homage to Heaven,
military officers, as suggested in the catalogue Homage to Earth, Chinese Treasures of the
to the exhibition China. Dawn of a Golden Age, Royal Ontario Museum, Hong Kong, 1992, pl.
200-750 AD, The Metropolitan Museum of 73. See also a figure wearing the tall style of
Art, New York, 2004, p. 234, where a ceramic headdress sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 2nd
head with a similar hat, recovered from the April 2019, lot 3005 and an example with the
Yongning temple, Luoyang, is published, cat. smaller cap, illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy
no. 130d. Whereas the smaller forward-tilting Years, vol. I, Tokyo, 1975, pl. 155, and sold in
cap or guan, is traditional Chinese court attire, these rooms 19th March 2013, lot 18.
prominently poised atop and secured to a
topknot, and only used by men. $ 50,000-70,000

186 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART