Lot 19. Property from the Cunliffe Collection of Chinese Art. A pottery figure of a female dancer, Tang Dynasty. Estimate £8,000 - 10,000 (€10,000 - 13,000). Photo Bonhams.

The slender figure wearing a tight high-waisted robe with out-flaring shoulder projections and long sleeves falling to her knees above a long skirt with billowing streamers and upturned, ruyi shoes, the hair fashionably arranged in a high chignon and surrounded by an elaborate headdress, holding a round implement wrapped within with strings or ribbons, with traces of polychrome pigments. 43.3cm (17 1/8in) high

Provenance: Rolf, Lord Cunliffe (1899-1963), Honorary Keeper of the Far Eastern Collections at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 
The Cunliffe Collection, no.PT28, and thence by descent

Exhibited and Published: Oriental Ceramic Society, The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, London, 25 February - 30 March 1955, no.30

Notes: Pottery figures, such as the present one, were incorporated within a complex of furnishing that presented the deceased with a miniaturised universe where they were deemed to continue their after life existence. Underground chambered tombs were thus constructed for the highest ranking members of the Tang society and decorated in a way that suggested a courtly compound consisting of sumptuous halls and luxuriant gardens. Providing the dead with the necessities they needed in their afterlife was viewed as a way to prompt their benign conduct towards their living offspring. Gracious figures of servants, courtiers, musicians, ladies engaging in leisurely pursuits and female dancers, thus complemented the colourful frescoes, depicting the frivolous moments of daily life that reflected the prosperity of the time. For references, see J.Rawson, 'Changes in the representation of life and the afterlife as illustrated by the content of tombs of the T'ang and Song period', in Smith, M.K.H.(ed.), Arts of the Sung and Yuan, New York, 1996, pp.23-43.

Compare a related pottery figurine of lady, dated late 7th century - early 8th century, modelled with similar oval face, tight waist and slender legs, in the collection of Robert Rousset, no.MA4724, illustrated in Compagnons d'ếternitế, Paris, 1997, p.173, and another in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, no.1978.345.

Bonhams. AUCTION 23237: FINE CHINESE ART, 10:30 BST - LONDON, NEW BOND STREET