Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005
A green-glazed molded flask, Tang Dynasty (618-907)
Lot 14. A green-glazed molded flask, Tang Dynasty (618-907), height 6 in., 15.2 cm. Estimate 3,000 — 5,000 USD. Lot sold 18,000 USD. © Sotheby's.
the compressed apple form vessel supported on a splayed foot and set with a narrow neck flanked by a pair of small holes for a rope handle, each side crisply molded with a boy dancing with a long flowing scarf upon a lotus base, encircled by a foliate scroll, applied with a dark green glaze.
Note: The posture of the boy seems to derive from Indian art. The dance which he is performing is known by the historical name of huxuan, presumably from Sogdiana, in which the dancer makes a series of rapid gyrations. Bai Juyi mentions it in a famous poem, and the Buddhist iconographies frequently associate the dance with the Pure Lands. A very similar flask with the same design, is in the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, Paris and illustrated in From Beijing to Versailles, The Urban Council , Hong Kong, 1997, pl. 24, p.101. Also compare a similar molded flask but with foreigners, illustrated in Wenwu, 1986, vol. 6, p. 52.