East Asia, China, Song Dynasty, ca. 960 to 1279 CE. A striking terracotta brick/tile with a female dancer delineated in high relief beneath an ogee arch. The lovely figure wears flowing garments with voluminous folds rippling over her body and ribbons flow from her elaborate coiffure/headdress. She holds a large vessel in her hands. The tile is set in an attractive wooden stand. Size: 10" W x 12" H (25.4 cm x 30.5 cm); 14" H (35.6 cm) on included custom stand.
During the Song Dynasty, China expanded its trade along the Silk Road and South and Central Asian Buddhist proselytizers brought many sculptures and paintings with Buddhist themes into the country. The ogee arch this figure stands beneath is based on a form from India called the chaitya arch. From the mid-6th century CE onward, the Chinese began to build temples from bricks rather than wood, and numerous brick pagodas were built, including the famous Iron Pagoda in Kaifeng. Originally built of wood, it was rebuilt with bricks at the request of Emperor Renzong following a natural disaster - when lightning struck and burned it down in 1049.
Provenance: private Honolulu, Hawaii, USA collection
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#149053
Condition
Chips to peripheries of the tile and the ogee arch. Nicks to high-pointed areas of the figural relief. Normal surface wear with scuffs and abrasions. Some new clay on verso to stabilize. Nice surviving white slip and scattered deposits. Minor scuffs and cracks to the wooden stand, but overall in good condition.