A sancai-glazed pottery figure of a camel, Tang dynasty | 唐 三彩駱駝

Hartman Rare Art, New York, 1980-81.

Hartman Rare Art，紐約，1980至1981年

The Tang dynasty, a glorious chapter in China's history, marked a period when the country embraced and admired influences from beyond its borders. The Silk Route facilitated the importation of new impulses and visual stimuli. Indicative of the trade route's incredible breadth, the two-hump Bactrian camel, as portrayed in the present lot, was the preferred means of transport for traders as they were capable of travelling further distances than the single-hump Arabian camels. Thus during the Sui and Tang dynasties, camels gradually became a common subject for artists and craftsmen to portray. 

Compare examples held in museum collections include one very similar pottery camel of larger size, in the Palace Museum, Beijing (accession no. 新00142689); another excavated at Luoyang, currently in the British Museum, London (accession no. 1936,1012.228). There is also a similar sancai-glazed camel illustrated in Seiichi Mizuno, Toji taikei [Complete collection of Far Eastern Ceramics], vol. 35, To sansai [Tang Sancai], Tokyo, 1977. pl. 46. For auctioned examples, see one sold at Christie's New York, 21st March 2002, lot 102; another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 2nd July 2021, lot 5032. 

The dating of this lot is consistent with the results of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C123k53.

本拍品經牛津熱釋光檢測編號C123k53.，結果與其斷代相符