J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Ancient Chinese Tomb Sculpture
March 22 - April 10, 2004
12.
A PAIR OF GRAY POTTERY SCHOLAR-OFFICIALS
Song Dynasty (A.D. 960 – 1279)
shown standing with heads turned as if engaged in a serious debate, their faces expressively modelled and well detailed; one with eyes set in a concentrated, thoughtful gaze, wearing a simple robe with close-fitting sleeves and a knotted cloth belt, with his right arm raised as if to emphasize an important statement, the hand lost in antiquity, his headdress gathered to a crease at the front and rising up to a high rim at the back; the other with furrowed brow and a finely incised moustache, shown wearing more elaborate layered robes with deep sleeves and a court belt applied with square plaques visible across his back, his high headdress of simpler domed form, standing quietly with his hands folded at his waist; both raised on plain flat circular bases with the toes of their shoes emerging beneath the hems of their robes, the hard gray pottery showing rust-red earth lightly encrusted on the surface, particularly on the back, the style and materials characteristic of Sichuan province.
Height 11 1⁄2 inches (29.2 cm)
Song dynasty tomb sculpture is quite rare. Tombs and tomb furnishings in the Song dynasty were far less elaborate than in the typical Han or Tang burial, and the use of pottery tomb sculpture was abandoned or greatly curtailed throughout China during the Song dynasty.
Compare the similarly modelled partially glazed red pottery figures of scholar-officials, excavated in 1986 from the Northern Song tomb of Zhang Que and his wife, with an epitaph dated to A.D. 1093, discovered in the eastern outskirts of Chengdu, Sichuan province, illustrated in Wenwu, 1990, No. 3, pl. 1, figs. 4-6, with line drawings on p. 4, fig. 4, nos. 1-4.
