Page 189 - Irving Collection Part II Chinese Art

1226 A RARE PAINTED STONE FIGURE OF A COURT LADY
CHINA, TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

The standing fgure shown with the left hand extended and the right
hidden within the sleeve of her long robes, her hair pulled up into an
elaborate coifure, with traces of red, green, and pinkish purple pigment
14Ω in. (36.8 cm.) high
$80,000-120,000
PROVENANCE
Charlotte Horstmann, Hong Kong (by repute).
Alice Boney, New York, 1984.
The Irving Collection, no. 917.

It was usual during the Tang dynasty for fgures that represented
personages found in life to be included as part of the contents of
tombs. Usually these fgures were made of pottery, either glazed or
painted. Stone fgures of this type appear to be quite rare and suggest
that they would have been made for the burial chamber of a person of
high rank.

The few grey stone Tang-dynasty tomb fgures that have been
published include two fgures of female musicians of comparable
height. One shown playing a pipa in the collection of the Fine Arts
University, Tokyo, is illustrated in Sui To no Bijutsu, Osaka Municipal
Museum of Fine Art, 1976, no. 295, and also in the Catalogue of the
International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-36, London, pl. 630. The
other, shown playing a harp, is illustrated in Ancient Chinese sculpture,
Eskenazi, London, 1979, no. 3.

Three stone fgures of female dancers have also been published.
One from the collection of H. J. Oppenheimer was included in the
International Exhibition of Chinese Art, illustrated ibid., pl. 2406. The
other two were sold at auction: one at Sotheby’s, London, 12 December
1978, lot 259, the other at Christie’s, New York, 3 December 1992,
lot 178.

The present stone fgure appears to be unusual in that it represents
a court lady, and is very similar to those made of pottery that were
produced during the eighth century when the style for ladies at court
was to have a full fgure, to have the hair dressed in an elaborate style,
and to wear loose robes, sometimes belted low on the hips as seen on
the present fgure. This style of dress refects the fashion at the Tang
court which gave women the option to dress in clothes styled on those
of the men. A pottery fgure of this type is illustrated in A Journey Into
China’s Antiquity, vol. 3, National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing,
1997, p. 201, no. 201.
唐 彩繪石雕仕女俑

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