A POTTERY FIGURE OF A BACTRIAN CAMEL WITH SOGDIAN RIDER

Description:

China, Tang dynasty
H. 56,5 / 65 cm
The large camel modelled with its head raised up with the ears pricked up, its mouth closed. A separately moulded saddle bag hangs between its humps, surmounted by a bearded Sogdian rider, seated in a relaxed posture with his arms raised, originally holding the reins.
From a European private collection, acquired at L.H.W. Hong Kong, 4 June 2007, the results of a TL analysis (Oxford, C106q68, 27 June 2006) are consistent with the dating of this lot - The tail broken off, very minor rest.
This camel and rider belong to a group of Tang pottery that are remarkably realistic and each model appears to be unique. Figures of foreigners, mostly Turks or as in this case, Sogdian, are generally used in such groupings of Tang pottery and reflect the prosperity of Tang China, one of the greatest empires in the medieval world, marked by successful diplomatic relationships and economic expansion along the silk roads. A related large painted pottery group of camel and foreign rider, dressed in a fur coat and wearing a large pointed hat, excavated from the tomb of Wang Chen (buried 679), Changzhi, Shaanxi province in 1954 and now in the Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, is illustrated by Li Jian (ed.), The Glory of the Silk Road. Art from Ancient China, The Dayton Art Institute, 2003, p. 170, pl. 85. A related pottery figure of a Bactrian camel and Sogdian rider was sold by Christie's London, 27 September 2017, lot 38. Cf. another Bactrian camel with another type of rider, sold by Christie's London, 5 November 2019, lot 4, another example sold by Bonhams San Francisco, 20 December 2011, lot 8273.