Page 13 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art November 2018

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 士紳藏品

103
A SET OF FIVE PAINTED POTTERY FIGURES OF BOYS Pottery figures of boys, dating to the Tang dynasty, are rare. This
Tang Dynasty remarkable group, depicting colourfully attired boys engaging in
Well modelled as three seated boys, two holding a yellow ball, one various leisurely pursuits, embodies symbolic wishes for fertility, male
holding a lotus branch, and two standing boys holding a plate, all progeny and immortality. The seated boy wearing a lotus leaf on
wearing teal cloth with black collar and red cuff, black belt fastened his head and holding a lotus bud is strongly symbolic of the Double
with a piece of triangular emerald green coloured fabric decorated Seventh Festival which celebrated the love encounter between the
with red and black designs. Weaver Maid and the Cowherd. During this time, children ran through
19cm(7 1/2in); 19cm (7 1/2in); 14.3cm (5 5/8in); 14cm (5 1/2in); the streets carrying lotus flowers and images depicting children
15cm (5 9/10in) high (5). and lotus were also purchased by women desiring sons. Children
emerging from lotus calyxes also symbolised the heavenly rebirth in a
£20,000 - 30,000 Buddhist realm, according to scriptures, but also the mindless state
CNY180,000 - 270,000 of spontaneous actions advocated by Daoists as a necessary means
to attain immortality. For references, see A.E.Barrott Wicks, Children
in Chinese Art, Honolulu, 2002, pp.6-15. See also E.Johnston,
唐 陶胎彩繪童戲像 一組五件 ‘Auspicious Images of Children in China’, in Orientations, no.27,
pp.47-52.
Provenance: a European private collection
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test
來源： 歐洲私人收藏 no.C118c68, performed on one of the five figures and dated 26
March 2018, is consistent with the dating of this lot.

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please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue. FINE CHINESE ART | 11