Page 89 - Bonhams NYC Chinese works of Art March 2019

PROPERTY FROM THE RUTH
AND RICHARD DICKES COLLECTION
593
TWO IMPRESSIVE PAINTED-POTTERY FIGURES OF COURT
LADIES
Tang dynasty
Each well-modeled, standing clad in long robes falling in folds over the The dating of one figure of this lot is consistent with the results of
feet, incised with a low neckline and a shawl over the shoulder, the full an Oxford Authentication Ltd Thermoluminescence test, sample no.
plump face with delicate features, accented with pigments to highlight C198x62, dated 27 August 1998,
the eyes and rosebud lips, beneath long hair drawn into an elaborate
asymmetrical coiffure; one with hands held against the chest, hidden Tang dynasty fashions and ideals of beauty are well-documented,
beneath the long sleeves; the other with hands held away from the having been preserved in the form of tomb figures. For two such
body. figures from the same tomb dated to AD 748, see The Quest for
The taller 16 1/4in (41.3cm) high (2). Eternity: Chinese Ceramic Sculptures from the People’s Republic of
China, Los Angeles County Art Museum, 1987, cat. nos. 83 and 84,
$12,000 - 18,000 pp. 139-140. The dress and hairtyles of the present pair also closely
resemble those of ladies depicted in murals on the walls of tomb
no. 187, Astana, Turfan and now preserved in the Xinjiang Museum,
唐 陶加彩女俑一對 illustrated in The Ancient Art in Xinjiang, China, Urumqi, 1994, p. 87,
pls. 213 and 215.
Provenance:
Collection of Ruth and Richard Dickes
Acquired in New York City, 22 February 1999

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