Page 14 - Christie's London Fine Chinese Ceramics Nov. 2019

PROPERTY OF A NOBLE EUROPEAN GENTLEMAN
4
A MASSIVE PAINTED POTTERY FIGURE OF A CAMEL AND RIDER This camel and rider belong to a group of Tang pottery that are remarkably
TANG DYNASTY (618-907) realistic and each model appears to be unique. Figures of foreigners, perhaps
The large camel is modelled with its head slightly turned to the left with a Turk or Sogdian, are generally used in such groupings of Tang pottery and
protruding eyes, faring nostrils and ears lying against its neck, its mouth held refects the prosperity of Tang China, one of the greatest empires in the
wide open with its tongue hanging out to one side. A detachable saddle bag medieval world, marked by successful diplomatic relationships and economic
hangs between its humps and is surmounted by a bearded Sogdian rider, who expansion along the silk roads. A related large painted pottery group of
is seated in a relaxed posture with his right arm raised to goad the camel, and camel and foreign rider, dressed in a fur coat and wearing a large pointed
the other hand holding a barrel to the side of his waist. hat, excavated from the tomb of Wang Chen (buried 679), Changzhi, Shaanxi
30æ in. (78.1 cm.) high
province in 1954 and now in the Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, is
£80,000-120,000 US$100,000-150,000 illustrated by Li Jian (ed.), The Glory of the Silk Road. Art from Ancient China,
€91,000-140,000 The Dayton Art Institute, 2003, p. 170, pl. 85. Another related pottery fgure
of a Bactrian camel and rider from the The Chinhuatang Collection, was sold
PROVENANCE:
at Christie’s Hong Kong, Important Chinese Ceramics and Works or Art, 29
Acquired in Hong Kong 2 November 1989
With Priestley & Ferraro, London, 2002 November 2017, lot 2919.
Collection of a European Nobleman
The result of Oxford Authentication Thermoluminescence Test number
C102c48 is consistent with the dating of this lot.

唐 胡人騎駱駝陶佣
來源:
1989年11月2日購自香港
倫敦Priestley & Ferraro, 2002 年
歐洲貴族珍藏
此器經牛津熱釋光測年法測試(編號C102c48), 證實與本圖錄之斷代符合

(detail)

12 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty
fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.