Terracotta Two Painted Pottery Figures of Warriors, with TL test - 49 cm

China, Western Han dynasty, 206 BC – 8 AD
Height: 49 cm.
With One of the Best Provenances! Museum piece!

Expert’s note: Museum pieces, with one of the best provenances possible. Such high-quality objects with such top provenance has been never auctioned on Catawiki auctions. The remains of the original floral scrolls painted on the body armor, the fine details, the good condition, and the original pigments makes this pair of warriors a masterpiece. This is one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy such masterpiece!

With the original pigments!

crack to the right leg of one of the warriors (not broken or repaired, just an aged crack, possible from the kiln)

-Provenance:

Ex. Collection Mr. H.K. Amsterdam

Note: Property from Very Important Dutch Private Collection!
The collection consists of ca. 14 Chinese pottery objects (including horses form the Six dynasties to Tang dynasty, attendants, musicians, guards of honor, camels), ca. 25 Pre-Columbian, and 10 Egyptian objects, all objects will be auctioned in the coming Catawiki auctions.

- from the H. K. collections.
Mr. H. K. was one of the Dutch foremost art collectors, the range of whose interests was extraordinary. These included Chinese, Egyptian, Pre-Columbian, and South-East Asian art.

Mr. K. was chairman of the ABU from 1999 to 2014. In addition, K. was chairman of Youth Care Netherlands, member of the Social-Economic Council (SER), columnist for “Het Financieele Dagblad”, active at VNO-NCW, advisor to the presidium of the House of Representatives, he held many supervisory positions and was active at FNV. He was consistently one of the 200 most influential people in the Netherlands, according to de Volkskrant!

Two large pottery figures of warriors, standing upright and looking straight ahead. Each warrior is dressed in armour, with baggy trousers and boots; the left hand extends downwards, whist the right hand is raised as if holding a weapon, possibly a spear. The body armour is decorated with three or four strokes of white in front of the left chest. Each figure has a slick hairstyle and a well-defined, somewhat solemn expression. The face of each figure is detailed as well as prominent eyebrows. Extensive traces of red, white, and black pigments adorn each figure.

This group of two pottery warriors reflects the level of pottery craftsmanship of the Western Han dynasty, and also provides important material for studying the military systems of the time. Han dynasty pottery warriors continue the development started in the Qin dynasty (221 – 206 BC) but are smaller and appear to be more conceptualised. In 1965 a substantial group of such pottery warriors, closely comparable in size, costume and described as infantrymen, was excavated from the burial grounds of Yanjiawan, Xianyang city in Shaanxi province and is now in the collection of the Xianyang City Museum.[1] Another group of pottery warriors, comparable in size and style, was excavated from Yangguishan in 2005 and is in the collection of the Suzhou Museum, Jiangsu province.[2] Two further closely comparable examples of Western Han warriors are in the Muwen Tang collection.[3]

1. War and Peace- Treasures of the Qin and Han Dynasties, Hong King Museum of History, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 40, pp. 82-3
2. Lin, J. The Search for Immortality- Tomb Treasures of Han China, The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, 2012, no. 3, p. 90
3. Kwan, S. Chinese Sculptures, The Muwen Tang Collection Series, vol. 10, Hong Kong, 2011, nos. 7 and 8, pp. 66-9

- The result of the thermoluminescence test, is consistent with the dating of one of the items, Han dynasty.

- A Certificate of Authenticity from Becker Antiques (specialist in Asian art since 1969, Amsterdam) will accompany the item.

Our Guarantee: The above item is guaranteed to be of the time period and condition as described, has been purchased legally and is legal to buy and sell under all international laws to cultural patrimony.

- All items legal to buy/sell under The Netherlands covering cultural patrimony, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

Condition: Very good condition. Wear consistent with the age, some loss of color. Please be advised that all ancient Chinese pottery objects had been buried in tombs and are excavated from there. Therefore, they can always have some restorations. Also worth of note is that the item is more than 2000 years old.

Important information.
The seller guarantees that he is entitled to ship this lot.
It will be professionally packed and safely sent a wooden crate by FedEx.
Buyers are responsible for import regulation and restrictions of their own country.