Page 44 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS
1617
A GROUP OF SIX PAINTED POTTERY FIGURAL TILES
JIN DYNASTY (1115-1234)
Each rectangular tile is detailed with a central, shaped niche which contains A group of four related painted pottery tiles with musicians and performers
a fgure wearing long, fowing robes and trailing scarves that frame the fgure, from the Shanxi Museum are illustrated by James C.Y. Watt in The World of
comprising fve musicians playing the chimes (bianqin), clappers (paiban), Khubilai Khan, Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, New York, 2010, p. 53, fgs.
mouth organ (sheng), waist drum (yaogu) and pan pipes (paixiao), and one 64-67. The author notes that during the Jin and Yuan dynasties in Dadu, the
dancer, the fgures picked out in white pigment, the surrounding frame in capital of the empire, a culture of art and entertainment prevailed, with many
brick-red pigment. holidays and celebrations. Great processions and parades with a multitude
of performers are recorded, although visual records of such events have
12º x 10 in. (31.5 x 25.4 cm.)
not survived. Like the performers seen in the set cited above, the elegant
(6)
entertainers within the tiles of the present set would have likely been visual
$30,000-50,000
references to contemporary performances.
PROVENANCE For another related tile with a male dancer see Theater, Life, and Afterlife:
The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, 1998. Tomb Décor of the Jin Dynasty from Shanxi, New York, 2012, no. 26.
金 彩繪伎樂人物磚雕一組六件

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