Lot 2917. A rare painted and gold-foiled wood figure of a court lady, Tang dynasty (618-907); 23 in. (58.4 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 300,000 - HKD 500,000. Price realised HKD 3,700,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The slender, elegant figure is standing with one arm pendent, the other at her waist, wearing a long-sleeved jacket with a deep V-shaped neckline, and a painted and gold-foiled belt decorated with an intricate foliate scroll pattern. Her long skirt falls to the to her feet. Her head is slightly turned to the left and her face is well carved with delicate features and red painted lips. Her hair, neatly pulled up into a high topknot, shows extensive remains of black and gilt pigments, Japanese wood box.
Provenance: Sold at Christie’s New York, 2 December 1989, lot 42
Mayuyama & Co. Ltd., Tokyo
A Japanese Private Collection
Note: Wood figures of this period are extremely rare. Closely comparable depictions of female figures with similar hairstyles and costumes on the wall paintings discovered in the tomb of Princess Yongtai at Xianyang City in Qian county, Shaanxi province, dated 706. Compare, also, the sancai-glazed pottery figure of a seated lady, excavated in Xi’an in 1955, now in the National Museum of China, which is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji: Tang Sancai, vol. 7, Kyoto, 1983, plate 58.
Two wood figures of court ladies, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, are illustrated by J.J. Lally & Co., Arts of Ancient China, New York, May 31-June 23, 1990, Catalogue, nos. 14 and 16. Further examples, dated to the Sui dynasty, from the Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas, were exhibited at the Portland Art Museum in 1976, and are illustrated in Donald Jenkins, Masterworks in Wood: China and Japan, Portland Art Museum, 1976, pp. 28-29, no. 8.
Standing Female Attendant, Tang dynasty (618–907), late 7th century–early 8th century. Wood with pigment. H. 19 1/2 in. (49.5 cm). Gift of Enid A. Haupt, 1997, 1997.442.7.1 © 2000–2017 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Standing Female Attendant, Tang dynasty (618–907), late 7th century–early 8th century. Wood with pigment. H. 21 in. (53.3 cm). Gift of Enid A. Haupt, 1997, 1997.442.7.2 © 2000–2017 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
For other painted wood figures of this type, see Eskenazi Ltd., Ancient Chinese Sculpture from the Alsdorf Collection and Others, London, June 12 to July 6, 1990, Catalogue, nos. 6-10; and ibid., Early Chinese Art from Tombs and Temples, London, 8 June to 9 July, 1993, Catalogue, nos. 45-46; also, see J.J. Lally & Co., Arts of Ancient China, New York, May 31 to June 23, 1990, Catalogue, nos. 15, 17-18; and ibid., Ancient Chinese Tomb Sculpture, New York, March 22 to April 10, 2004, Catalogue, nos. 15-20.
Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 29 November 2017, Hong Kong
