Offered at Sotheby༺'s New York🔥, 19th September 2002, lot 41.

上拍於紐約蘇富比2002年9月19日，編號41

This magnificent pair of mythical figures represent both technically and aesthetically the peak of Chinese tomb figures produced during the Tang dynasty. Production and ownership of these rarified glazed figures were re🌼stricted to north China, largely in the areas around the capital cities of Luoyang and Chang’an. The prominent size, sensitivꦐe modeling and deftly applied glaze which features resist-techniques indicate that this pair was destined for the tomb of high-ranking nobility or a member of the imperial family. This flamboyant interpretation of these guardian figures, which derives from Buddhist art in India, epitomizes the Tang elite’s admiration of exoticism during the height of its power over Silk Road trade routes. Both the sophisticated glaze techniques and extravagant figural forms virtually disappear from 755 after the destructive forces of the An Lushan Rebellion.

A similar pair, comparable in quality but of smaller dimension is in the British Museum, London, part of a group of thirteen figures reportedly from the tomb of Liu Tingxun (d. 728) buried at Luoyang and illustrated in Jessica Rawson, The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992, pl. 93. Another superlative pair with the addition of cobalt blue glaze is in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis (accession no. 49.1.10a,b). Compare also a related pair of sancai-glazed earth spirits from the collection of Fr🦂ieda and Milton Rosenthal sold in these rooms, 16th September 2008, lot 217.

The dating of this lot is consistent🥀 with the results of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test nos C122a9 and C122a10.