A Pair of very well painted pottery fat ladies Tang Dynasty

each plump and naturalistically modeled standing with a slight sway, dressed in a long flowing robe with crisp pleats and upturned petal slippers peeking from under the robe, one wearing a crimson robe finely painted with white dianthus flowers borne on leafy green vines, the robe further detailed with four small birds, the top half of her robe painted in cream with scattered grasses on the edge of her bodice, her long sleeves hiding her hands with traces of blue and green pigment, the other wearing a cream-colored robe with scattered paulownia petals and long red and black ribbons trailing down the front, her upper half painted with small white florets on a black ground imitating wax-resist dyeing patterns, both with rosy cheeks enhanced with three beauty marks - one on the forehead and two on the cheeks, all framed by elaborately coiffed hair, one with a single topknot, the other with a double topknot

The attenuation of the present pair is quite rare as figures of fat court ladies are not commonly depicted as tall. The modeling of the faces satisfies all the classic requirements form of small and close-set eyes, aquiline nose, well rounded cheeks, delicate lips and double chins sloping down to the neck, beneath towering coiffures but these figures are extraordinary for the preservation of the pigments in the gown which captures so vividly the Tang court interest in sumptuous textiles. For examples of floral motifs on figures of Tang ladies, see several figures of ladies illustrated Tomb of Princess Jinziang, Beijing, 2002, nos. 21, 29, 33 and 68 as well as an unusual set of four fat ladies sold in these rooms, 22nd September 2004, lot 139.

The dating of this lot is consistent with the results of thermoluminescence tests, Oxford Authentication Ltd., no. C104z34 and C104z35.