Terracotta Set di quattro figure di musiciste in ceramica dipinta, prova TL, dinastia Tang - 22 cm

Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.)
Height 21-22 cm each
On chic custom-made marmer/stone stands.

Auction result comparison: Compare with a closely related set of two musicians at Christies New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art part I, 17 – 18 March 2016, lot 1479, sold for USD $27,500, photo #58.

Note: It will be professionally packed and safely sent in a wooden crate within 3 working days by FedEx. Shipped with Insurance!

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.

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- The results of the thermoluminescence tests, are consistent with the dating of the items, Tang dynasty. Sampling in four different points

- The result of the Pre-dose test is consistent with the dating of the items and the test confirms old firing without any kind of artificial x-ray treatments!

All four musicians seated, with one leg raised, wearing same long sleeved robes above black boots. The softly modelled faces detailed in red and black pigment on a white slip beneath the black hair drawn in hairdo by the four female and up in a knot by the male. One playing a mouthorgan (sheng), the other cymbals and qin.

Additional Information:

Kucha (or Kuche) was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin and south of the Muzat River.

Literature comparison: These four figures are similar to a group of ten seated female court musicians in the Shoso-in, Japan, illustrated by Ryoichi Hayashi in The Silk Road and the Shoso-in, New York/Tokyo, 1975, p. 96, fig. 103. Three similar painted pottery figures of seated female court musicians illustrated by J. Baker in Appeasing the Spirits: Sui and Tang Dynasty Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection, Hofstra Museum, Hofstra University, 1993, p. 18, no. 9, are described as wearing Kuchean fashions, and representing the Kuchean modes of music and entertainment that were popular during the Sui and early Tang periods. The same costume and Kuchean hair style can also be seen on a group of standing figures illustrated p. 17, nos. 6 and 7. In discussing a group of nine similarly attired and coiffed standing figures of female musicians illustrated in China: A History in Art, New York, 1979, p. 132 (top), the authors, B. Smith and Wango Weng, note that female musicians from Chinese Turkestan played for the court, and that “musicians from Kucha in Central Asia probably exerted the most influence” at court.

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