CHINESE HAN DYNASTY FEMALE DANCER - TL TESTED
Ca. 202BC - 220AD.
A well-modelled, pottery standing female dancer with arms stretched out, the hands well hidden within the long, voluminous sleeves of the tight-fitting robe, the face carved with delicate features and the hair pulled back behind the ears and gathered into a long ponytail down below the shoulders. The elegant clothing comprises a flowing, long-sleeved robe decorated with red on the neckline. The figure retains most of the original white slip and there is additional decoration in pink and black to show the facial features and the hair. The potters have succeeded in imparting a vibrant sense of fluidity to the standing figure, displaying realism in the stance and adding movement and dimension by the curves of the long-draped sleeves. For a comparison piece of the standing dancers, see Christie's, Chinese and Japanese Ceramics and Works of Art, Live Auction 2624, 19 May 2004, Lot 414A. To find out more about the Han dynasty and its material culture, see Miller, A. R. (2021). Kingly Splendor: Court Art and Materiality in Han China. New York: Columbia University Press. This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot.
Size: L:550mm / W:280mm ; 6.12kg
Provenance: From the private collection of a Somerset gentleman; previously in an old British collection, formed in the 1980s on the UK /European art markets.
Estimate: GBP 1500 - 3000