Page 204 - Chinese Art Auction April 25, 2020 2020 Galerie Zacke

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A lARge PAINTed Red POTTeRy FIguRe
OF A cOuRT lAdy, TANg dyNAsTy

China, 618-907. The lady is shown standing with her body elegantly
swayed to one side as her head is raised inquisitively towards the
visitor. Her hands, held in front of her chest, are distinctively modeled
in fine detail whereas the voluminous sleeves of her robe fall down
in voluminous folds. Her hair is dressed in an elaborate coiffure.
remnants of pigment.
Provenance: An Austrian private
collection. Galerie Zacke, Vienna, May
27th, 2003. Dr. Mons Fischer, acquired
from the above for EUR €11,132. A copy
of the invoice from Galerie Zacke, Vienna,
May 27th, 2003, is accompanying this lot.
A seasoned private collector of modern
and contemporary art, Dr. Mons Fischer
has also acquired fine Chinese works of
art since the 1980s, eventually building
one of the most important collections of Dr. and Mrs. Mons Fischer
its kind in Austria.
condition: Some repair and touchups as generally
expected from Tang dynasty excavations. Losses,
fissures and encrustations. Three drilled holes from
sample-taking. Overall very good condition.
scientific Report: A thermoluminescence analysis
report issued by Oxford Authentication on February
11th, 2020, based on sample number C120a59, sets
the firing date of three samples taken at 900 – 1500
years ago. A copy of the report, issued by Oxford
Authentication, is accompanying this lot.
Weight: 4.4 kg
Dimensions: Height 55.5 cm
This elegant figure, beautifully modeled with carefully incised lines that
suggest the folds of the garment, is a particularly large and charming
example of the court ladies that became fashionable in the second half
of the Tang dynasty. The reign of Emperor Ming Huang seems to have
heralded the growth in popularity of a more generous female form and
the adoption of less structured, flowing robes. This change in style has
traditionally been attributed to the influence of the emperor’s adored
concubine yang Guifei, who was reported to have had a rather voluptuous
figure. yang Guifei was held partly responsible for the circumstances
that led to the An Lushan rebellion of AD 756, and she was executed by
the accompanying troops as she and the Emperor fled to Sichuan. The
Emperor’s grief at her loss was immortalized in one of China’s best- known
literary works, The Song of Eternal regret. However, excavated figures
suggest that this fashion was already coming to prominence by the time
that yang Guifei won the emperor’s admiration.
In addition to their robes, the hairstyles of these figures also differ from
those of their slender predecessors. While the latter tended to have their
hair drawn back from the face and then arranged in one or two elaborate
knots, the plumper ladies, like the current figure, tend to have softer hair
styles. The hair is much fuller, framing the upper part of the face and is tied
in a looser arrangement on top.

Literature comparison: The figures of this type usually hold their hands in
front of them, in order to provide a more graceful arrangement of their
sleeves. Some have their hands completely hidden as can be seen in three
of the figures from the Schloss Collection. See J. Baker, Seeking Immortality
- Chinese Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection, Bowers Museum
of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, 1996, p. 34, no. 17. Others among these figures
hold a pet animal or bird, as in the case of the figure with a small pug dog 大型彩繪侍女陶俑，唐代
in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, illustrated by G. Hasebe and 中國，618-907。如圖所示，侍女身體優雅地偏向一側，她的頭向訪客好奇地抬起。
M. Sato, Sekai toji zenshu, 11 Tang, Tokyo, 1976, no. 29, or the figure gently 雙手在胸前，細節精美，造型獨特，而長袍的袖子則垂下褶皺。 她的頭髮整齊地梳
著。 殘留的顏料。
cradling a songbird in her hand, Seeking Immortality, op. cit., p. 34, no. 17,
second from the right. A very few of the figures hold a small child, as in the 來源：一個奧地利私人老收藏。維也納Zacke藝廊，2003年5月27日。Dr. Mons
case of a mother and child group excavated from a tomb dated to AD 744 Fischer購於上述藝廊，成交價EUR €11.132。隨附發票複印件。Dr. Mons Fischer是
near Xi’an. See E. Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture from Han 一位經驗豐富的現代和當代藝術私人收藏家，從1980年代開始收藏中國藝術品，最
through Tang, vol. 1, Stamford, 1977, p. 42, fig. 7. 終在奧地利建立了此類藏品最重要的收藏之一。
品相：唐代考古普遍預期的一些維修和修整。 缺損，裂縫和結殼。 測試所需的樣品
採集產生的三個鑽孔。 總體狀況很好。
隨附牛津熱釋光測試檢測證書拷貝
AucTION ResulT 重量：4.4 公斤
cOMPARIsON 尺寸：高55.5厘米
拍賣結果比較：一件相近侍女陶俑2019年9月13日紐約佳士得《重要中國陶瓷和工藝
Compare with a closely related pottery figure of 品》拍號835，成交價USD $62.500。
a lady at Christies New york in Important Chinese
Ceramics and Works of Art, 13 September 2019, lot estimate euR 6.000,-
835, sold for USD $62,500.
Starting price EUr 3.000,-
199