Note: Northern Qi whistles of this type modelled to depict a foreigner are unusual although a similar example from the Meiyintang Collection is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 3, pt. 2, London, 2006, no. 1365. See also whistles modelled as monster masks, such as one attributed to the Tang dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Ceramics, vol. 4, Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, Beijing, 2013, pl. 126; another covered in a black glaze illustrated in Liu Zunyi, Yaozhou yao/ Yaozhou Kiln, Xi’an, 1992, p. 28 top right; and two sancai examples illustrated in Xie Mingliang, Zhongguo gudai qian youtao de shijie [The world of ancient Chinese lead-glazed wares], Taipei, 2014, pls 4.37 and 5.94. Compare further a celadon-glazed example sold in these rooms, 4th April 2017, lot 3225.

Similar depictions of foreigners are discussed by Suzanne G. Valenstein in Cultural Convergence in the Northern Qi Period. A Flamboyant Chinese Ceramic Container, New York, 2007, pp. 48 and 49, where she suggests a Hellenistic prototype for these figures.

Sotheby's. Ritual and Reality, Hong Kong, 17 April 2024