Page 8 - Fine Chinese Art Bonhams London May 2018

1
A VERY LARGE SICHUAN POTTERY FIGURE
OF A FARMER
Eastern Han Dynasty
The standing figure wearing rope-tied sandals and
a tight tunic over a shorter garment secured by a
belt suspending a short knife and a long sword,
holding a spade and a handleless shovel, the face
with serene expression below a small squared cap.
110.5cm (43 2/8in) high
£15,000 - 20,000
CNY130,000 - 180,000

東漢 陶胎農家俑
Provenance: An Italian private collection

來源： 意大利私人收藏

Agriculture was considered the foundation of the
Han empire, with canals being dug, fields irrigated
and new technologies introduced. Families were
moved to the empire’s periphery to bring new lands
under way and all farming lands were owned by
nobles, officials and wealthy merchants who grew
very powerful.

A related pottery figure of a farmer, Eastern Han
dynasty, in the collection of the Sichuan Provincial
Museum, Chengdu, is illustrated by J.Rawson,
Mysteries of Ancient China, London, 1996, p.211,
fig.113.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd.
thermoluminescence test no.C107c79 dated
25 January 2007, is consistent with the dating
of this lot.
2
A JIANYAO ‘HARE’S FUR’ ‘IMPERIAL TRIBUTE’
TEA BOWL
Gong Yu mark, Song Dynasty
Of conical form with steep sides and a slight
indentation below the gently everted rim, covered
in a glossy caramel-russet glaze with black streaks
emanating from the centre of the interior, the exterior
similarly decorated with the glaze pooling above the
unglazed foot revealing the dark purple-brown body,
the base incised with the characters Gong yu.
11.8cm (4 5/8in) diam.

£3,000 - 5,000
CNY27,000 - 45,000

宋 建窯兔毫紋盌
「供御」楷書刻款

A similar bowl in the Arthur M.Sackler Museum,
Harvard University, with an incised Gongyu mark
on the base is illustrated by R.Mowry, Hare’s Fur,
Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, Cambridge,
Mass., 1995, no.76, where he discusses the
connoisseurship of these wares in the Song court,
pp.204-208.
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For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
6 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.