Lot 15. Property from the Carnegie Museum of Art, sold to benefit the acquisition fund. An impressed gray pottery jar, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period (c. 475–221 BC). Height 30 cm. Lot Sold 1,524 USD (Estimate 1,000 - 1,500 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

 

Provenance: Collection of Charles D. Armstrong (1861-1935), prior to 1925.
Gifted to the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 1925 (accession no. 25.1.13).

Lot 122. A set of twelve pottery zodiac figures, Tang dynasty (618–907). Height of tallest 18.2 cm. Lot Sold 2,794 USD (Estimate 1,500 - 2,500 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 1st December 1992, lot 245.

Note: It is rare to find a complete set of twelve zodiac animals. A set of similar zodiac figures of larger size, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession no. 2000.662.7a–l), is included in the Museum's exhibition Celebrating the Year of the Rabbit, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2023.

The dating of the monkey figure is consistent with the results of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. 666f6.

Lot 124. A painted pottery figure of an equestrian, Tang dynasty (618–907). Height 33 cm. Lot Sold 4,064 USD (Estimate 2,000 - 3,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 30th November 2023, lot 1086.

Exhibited: Myth, Devotion and the Material World, Weisbrod, New York, 1997, cat. no. 30.

Note: Compare a buff pottery figure of a horse and rider similarly clutching a tiger excavated from the tomb of Princess Yongtai (685-701). Another similar painted pottery example sold in these rooms, 22nd March 1995, lot 206. See also a pair with a cat and a dog on the saddle, sold in these rooms, 22nd March 2001, lot 76, and again 23rd March 2019, lot 1532. 

Sotheby's. Asian Art 5000 Years, New York, 27 June 2025