Lot 230. A Painted Grey Pottery Base Modeled as a Coiled Animal, Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD); 10in. (25.4cm.) across. Estimate USD 2,000 - USD 3,000. Price realised USD 1,880. © Christie's Image Limited

Hollow modeled as a recumbent winged mythical beast, its jaws wide open in a warning roar and its coiled body surrounding a tubular socket, with traces of white pigment.

Literature: E. Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, Stamford, 1977, vol. II, pl. 17.

Exhibited: New York, China Institute in America, Art of the Han, 14 March - 27 May, 1979, no. 56.
Poughkeepsie, Vassar College Art Gallery, Into the Afterlife: Han and Six Dynasties Chinese Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection, 28 September - 25 November 1990, no. 31.
Santa Ana, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Seeking Immortality: Chinese Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection, 6 October 1996 - 16 March 1997, no. 142.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics, Paintings and Works of Art, New York, 21 September 2000