Page 25 - Christie's Fine Chiense Works of Art November 2018 London

A LARGE TANG SANCAI-GLAZED FIGURE OF A
GUARDIAN WARRIOR

ROSEMARY SCOTT, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONSULTANT

This imposing fgure would have been made to stand bodied ‘earth spirit’ guardians, and two guardian warriors
within the tomb of a member of the Tang dynasty elite. – also sometimes referred to as ‘lokapala’ or ‘Heavenly King’
Magnifcent sancai tomb fgures, like the current example, - of similar type to the fgure in the current sale.
fourished during the period from the late 7th to mid-8th
century. One of the earliest tombs to contain sancai pieces The British Museum has in its collection a group of 13
was that of Li Feng, Prince of Guo (虢莊王 李鳳; AD 622- sancai tomb fgures which are believed to have come from
675), who was the ffteenth son of Emperor Gaozu (高祖 r. the tomb of General Liu Tingxun, who died in AD 728 and
AD 618-26), founder of the Tang dynasty. Prince Guo was was buried at Luoyang. Among these fgures are the three
buried at the royal Xianling 獻陵 tomb in AD 675 (see Kaogu pairs of fgures which would have stood at the entrance to
考古, 1977, No. 5, pp. 313-26). By the frst decade of the 8th the tomb chamber (illustrated The British Museum Book of
century large sancai fgures were included in the tombs of Chinese Art, J. Rawson (ed.), London, 1992, p. 143, fg. 93),
royalty and nobility both at the capital Chang’an (modern including two guardian warriors - one of which is similarly
day Xi’an) and at Luoyang, which served as the Eastern clad in armour and helmet to the current fgure. The British
Capital in the Tang period. The inclusion of large sancai Museum fgure also stands in a mirror image of the pose to
fgures declined signifcantly following the An Lushan 安祿 that of the current fgure, except that the museum fgure is
山 rebellion of AD 755-63, which had a devastating efect trampling an animal, while the current fgure is trampling a
on the empire, seriously weakened the dynasty, and led to demon.
the loss of the Western Regions.
Perhaps the most famous tomb fgures are those from
In 1981 the undisturbed joint tomb of the Dingyuan General three of the royal tombs of the Qianling 乾陵 Mausoleum
An Pu (定遠將軍 安普) and his wife was excavated at on Mount Liang 梁山, in Qian county, north-west of Xi’an.
Longmen, Luoyang (see ‘The Tang Tomb of An Pu and his These are the tombs of Princess Yongtai (永泰公主 AD
wife at Longmen, Luoyang’, Zhongyuan Wenwu, 1982, no. 3, 685-701), daughter of Emperor Zhongzong (中宗 r. AD 705-
pp. 21-26, and fg. 14). An Pu was descended from nobility 710), who is believed to have been executed or forced to
of the Kingdom of Anxi and although he died at Chang’an in commit suicide by her grandmother, Empress Wu Zetian (
AD 664, aged 63, his wife, Lady He, did not pass away until 武則天 d. AD 705), in 701, but was reinterred in the Qianling
704. Their son An Jinzang, who became an oficial in the Mausoleum in 706 by her father after he regained the
Music Ofice of the Bureau of Court Ceremonial, arranged throne; Crown Prince Yide (懿德太子 AD 682-701), the only
for their joint re-burial at Luoyang in AD 709 with splendid son of Emperor Zhongzong, who was executed or forced
furnishings, which included not only fne sancai fgures, but to commit suicide along with his sister and her husband
carved limestone doors and an epitaph carved on a large in 701 on the orders of his grandmother, and who was also
square piece of limestone, which bears details of An Pu’s life reinterred in the Qianling Mausoleum by his father in 706,
as well as providing the date of the re-interment. In all, the and Crown Prince Zhang Huai (章懷太子 AD 653-684),
tomb contained some 124 pottery items, amongst these the sixth son of Emperor Gaozong (高宗 r. AD 649-683) and his
most impressive being the sancai camels and horses, and second wife Empress Wu. He too was executed or forced
the three pairs of fgures – two civil oficials, two animal- to commit suicide on the orders of his mother Empress Wu

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