Chinese Sui / Tang Glazed Pottery Zhenmushou

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Exceptional Antiquities | Ethnographic Art

By Artemis Gallery

Oct 11, 2018

Set Reminder 2018-10-11 10:00:00 2018-10-11 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities | Ethnographic Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-ethnographic-art-3500
An important one-day auction featuring museum-worthy examples of classical antiquities, ancient and ethnographic art from cultures encompassing the globe. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  East Asia, China, Sui to Tang Dynasty, ca. 581 to 907 CE. An intriguing hollow-molded pottery tomb guardian figure (known as a "zhenmushou," translated as "tomb beast" or "earth spirit"). The seated amalgam figure boasts a wondrous zoomorphic body with hooved legs, a curved back with three large undulating scales, and a singular horn atop the stylized head. A haunting anthropomorphic guise peers out with bulging ovoid eyes, a prominent nose with flared nostrils, semicircular ears, and full lips flanked by high cheek bones and sunken cheeks. Intricate polychrome decorations which emphasize the facial and body hair, scales, and striations on the body and legs are brought forth in hues of jet, ruby, turquoise, pearl, and topaz on a straw-colored ground. Created to safeguard the souls of the deceased, this is a fabulous example of abstract Chinese stylization! Size: 4.625" W x 12" H (11.7 cm x 30.5 cm).
  
  Figures like this example capture the ancient Chinese interest in the spirit world in which such fantastical creatures were believed to reside. Such mythological beings were thought to be at once protective and somewhat auspicious. As objects they were perceived as guardian figures; hence, it is possible that the piece was once placed in a garden or entrance to a domicile and later placed in the grave of an elite individual with significant objects to accompany the deceased in the afterlife. It is also possible that it was created strictly for burial with the deceased.
  
  For a stylistically-similar example of a zhenmushou from the Northern Qi Dynasty just prior to the Sui Dynasty (ca. 550 to 577 CE), please see the Yale University Art Gallery, accession number 2000.57.2: https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/78413
  
  Provenance: private Vero Beach, Florida, USA collection; ex-old private English collection, acquired in London in the 1960s
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
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  #137872

  Condition

  Repairs to both front legs and both back feet with some earthen stabilization material and light overpainting along break lines. Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age, chips and losses to some areas of glaze, fading to areas of pigmentation, with minor nicks to legs, body, head, and horn, and light encrustations. Nice earthen deposits and traces of pigmentation throughout.
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