Page 76 - September 20 2021 Chinese Works of Art Bonhams NYC

PROPERTY FROM THE ROBERT AND MEE-DIN MOORE
COLLECTION
164
A SANCAI-GLAZED BUFF POTTERY CAMEL WITH SADDLE A much larger sancai-glazed camel with a wider leg stance and with
BAGS differing goods carried on its pannier, sold at Christie’s, New York, 20
Tang Dynasty September 2005, lot 191. It can also be compared with a larger but
Posed in motion on a buff pottery base, the muscled Bactrian beast of related sancai-glazed camel, sold at Bonhams London, 8 November
burden with neck arched and mouth open to bray, heavily laden with 2018, lot 28. These laden camels epitomize the richness of the trade
griffin-head bags draped over a four-pronged saddle snuggly fitted across the famed silk route during the Tang dynasty. The two-humped
over swaying humps, the creature’s chestnut body elegantly accented Bactrian camel was much prized for its endurance and Imperial camel
with cream highlights at the head, ruff, tail, and humps with a dramatic herds were established under the administration of a special bureau.
green glaze appointing the masked saddle bags. These were used for state duties and even courier service, besides the
15 3/4in (40cm) high; 14 3/4in (37.5cm) long obvious use transporting goods across the vast deserts.

$8,000 - 12,000 For a large braying camel laden with goods excavated in 1981 from a
tomb in Luoyang, Henan, see Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan-taoci
唐 三彩駱駝 juan, Taipei, 1993, p. 155, no. 534.

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