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Scientific Analysis Report: The result of a radiocarbon dating test (C14) conducted by Re. S. Artes, no. R 146195A-1, 28 July 2026, based on one sample taken from the base of one figure, is consistent with the dating of this lot. The report states three intervals of dates, namely 650-545 BC with a probability of 56.9 %, 696-662 with a probability of (18.3%), and 776-734 BC with a probability of 20.2 %. Thus, the combined probability for a date between 776-545 BC is 95.4 %.
Expert’s note
Radiocarbon analysis places the wood of this remarkable ensemble in the Spring and Autumn period, at the very threshold of Liubo’s archaeologically documented history. No pre-Han figural representation of the game appears in the published archaeological record: the earliest securely excavated boards date from the Warring States period, while the earliest recorded wooden tableau of players is the late Western Han group from Mozuizi tomb no. 48 (see literature comparison). On current evidence, the present work is therefore the earliest known three-dimensional depiction of Liubo. It predates its closest wooden sculptural comparison by several centuries. Preserving not only the distinctive gaming board but also the opposing players’ animated gestures and intense psychological engagement, the group transforms a remote tradition known largely through retrospective texts and fragmentary gaming equipment into a vivid image of play. It is a foundational document for the history of Chinese gaming, early wood sculpture, and the representation of secular life.
China, 770-476 BC. Comprising two seated figures engaged in a game of Liubo, each dressed in robes accented with red and black borders. One figure appears animated and triumphant, raising his hands in apparent joy, while the other bears a grave expression, with furrowed brows and arms crossed in frustration as he faces imminent defeat. The accompanying low table is carved with a rectangular central cartouche, covered by a wooden lid, and decorated with TLV patterns, characteristic of ancient Chinese gaming boards associated with Liubo. (4)
Provenance: From the private collection of A. Hansen, Denmark. Mr. Hansen (b. 1955) is a retired Danish Supreme Court lawyer and lifelong collector with a deep passion for history and culture. His collecting journey began at the age of eight with stamps, encouraged by his father, and quickly developed into a serious pursuit. By 1982, his specialized collection of Greenland postal history earned international recognition. Following this success, Mr. Hansen turned his focus to fine art and antiquities, beginning with Danish art and later expanding into East and Southeast Asian artifacts after an inspiring Japanese exhibition in 1985. Over the following decades, his collection grew to include mostly ceramic artworks from Annam, Khmer, Burmese, and Thai origins, acquired through reputable collectors and auction houses.
Condition: Good condition with expected wear, signs of weathering and erosion, few age splits, tiny chips here and there, and one figure with sections of the hands reattached. A hole drilled for sample-taking to the base.
Weight: 2.4 kg, 2.9 kg, and 559 g
Dimensions: Height 30 cm and 31.5 cm (the figures), 9.1 cm (the table)
The origins of Liubo reach deep into Chinese antiquity. Later tradition attributed the invention of bo to the legendary Wu Cao, while the Shiji recounts how the Shang king Wuyi played against a manikin whom he called a “heavenly spirit.” Whether this Shang-period game already possessed the fully developed board and rules of later Liubo cannot now be established, but the story demonstrates the immense antiquity that early Chinese writers themselves assigned to it. Liubo also figures prominently in historical memory of the Spring and Autumn period: an episode supposedly occurring in 681 BC relates how Duke Min of Song was killed with a gaming board after quarreling with his minister Nangong Wan during a match.
The precise rules of Liubo have been lost and probably varied over time, but archaeological finds and later descriptions preserve its essential character. Two players faced one another across a square board divided into twelve paths surrounding a central area known as the ‘water’. Each controlled six pieces, conventionally black and white, while the outcome of six split throwing sticks—or, in some versions, dice—determined movement. A piece could become the commanding ‘owl’, enter the central water, capture the two ‘fish’, and earn counting tallies. Liubo thus combined chance, tactical movement, capture, and gambling, accounting for its immense popularity during the Warring States and Han periods. The characteristic arrangement of T-, L-, and V-shaped markings was later transferred to Han bronze mirrors, adopting a broader decorative and perhaps cosmological meaning.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related later group of carved and painted wood Liubo players with board, excavated from the Western Han dynasty tomb no. 48 at Mozuizi, Wuwei, in Gansu Province, illustrated in Wenwu, 1972, no. 12. Another pair of carved wood Liubo players, dated late Western Han, 28 and 29 cm tall, is illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Beijing 1988, vol. 2, pl. 68.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 21 March 2000, lot 193
Price: USD 68,500 or approx. EUR 116,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A very rare pair of large painted wood figures of attendants, Eastern Zhou dynasty
Expert remark: At 57.2 cm high, these figures are larger and represent conventional funerary attendants, placing them in a category distinct from the present Liubo group, which appears to be the only surviving work of its kind from the Spring and Autumn period. Nevertheless, the result provides a highly instructive market comparison given the extreme rarity of Eastern Zhou wood sculpture.
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