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Scientific Analysis Report: A thermoluminescence analysis report issued by Oxford Authentication on 23 May 2002, based on sample number C102j90, sets the firing date of all four samples taken between 1000 and 1600 years ago, consistent with the dating above. A copy of the report accompanies this lot.
Expert’s note: Representations of Turkic caravan women on Tang-dynasty camel figures like the present lot are exceptionally rare, with only a handful known in public collections (see literature comparison below for two examples, the one in the Nelson-Atkins Museum being near-identical). Showing a mother nursing her infant as she travels with the caravan, the present group introduces an unusually intimate dimension to Tang-period imagery of the Silk Roads, where families journeyed alongside merchants, handlers, and their animals.
China, 618-907. A Western Asiatic woman, who is nursing a baby at her bare left breast, sits astride a kneeling Bactrian camel between its two humps. The plump-proportioned woman has distinctive Turkic facial features, modeled full cheeks, sunken small eyes, hooked nose, and pout lips. She wears the high cap, pants, and boots convenient for nomadic life. She raises her right hand as if pulling the camel's rein, and curves her left fist as if to grasp the reins, even while she holds the baby in her left arm.
The open-mouthed camel is modeled with fur on its head, under its arched neck, on its humps, and around its front legs. It wears a fringed saddle blanket cut to let the humps through. The heavy load on the sides of its humps consists of a fringed blanket covering hinged slates of wood. The group of figures is painted in ochre, red, and black.
Provenance: From the estate of Edith and Joel Frankel, New York. E & J Frankel was a major New York gallery specializing in Asian Art since 1967. Run by Edith (1939-2012) and Joel Frankel (1937-2018), it was one of the oldest galleries in the United States focusing exclusively on Asian art. Leaders in their field, the Frankels traveled the world in search of Asian art treasures and educated the general public about their shared passion. Their gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City became a local institution, best known for its regular schedule of innovative thematic exhibitions, and frequently visited by the biggest names in the field, such as Eskenazi, Ellsworth, Junkunc, and the Alsdorfs.
Condition: Good condition with expected wear, firing irregularities, signs of prolonged burial, and areas of encrustation. Some original pigments are well preserved. As is virtually always the case with Han dynasty pottery figures of this type, few old repairs are present. Overall with a beautiful, naturally grown patina.
Weight: 15.1 kg
Dimensions: Length 58.5 cm
The Tang dynasty is undoubtedly one of the most artistically exciting periods in China's long history. The arts are characterized by their diversity, the cosmopolitan nature of their design and the high technical skill employed in their manufacture as this pottery example amply demonstrates. In the first half of this dynasty, up to the An Lushan rebellion of 756, the level of luxury enjoyed by the court and the Tang elite ensured the production of a wide range of goods of the highest quality. As China prospered as a result of trade with the west along the famous Silk Road, camels became increasingly important for the transport of wares, since these impressive animals could carry heavy loads over long distances, surviving several days without water. As their large and broad feet did not sink easily into the sand, they became known as 'the ships of the desert'. Many camels were imported from the states of the Tarim basin, Eastern Turkmenistan and Mongolia and are known as Bactrian camels. The Tang civil servants created a special office to supervise their breeding and services. It seems that no pottery examples showing Chinese riders have been excavated. Perhaps only the Central Asian foreigners were able to tame and guide the camels.
Literature comparison:
Compare a near-identical but smaller (45.7 cm long) painted pottery figure of a caravan woman rousing her camel while nursing, dated Tang dynasty, 8th century, in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. Compare also a closely related painted pottery figure of a woman breastfeeding while riding a camel, dated Tang dynasty, 46 cm high, in the Aurora Museum, Shanghai.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 9 September 2005, lot 253
Price: USD 120,000 or approx. EUR 177,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A superb ‘camel-and-monkey’ pottery group, early Tang dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling, decoration, and size (58.5 cm). Note the slightly different rendition of the camel motif, here with a monkey instead of a rider.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s London, 5 November 2019, lot 4
Price: GBP 75,000 or approx. EUR 116,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A massive painted pottery figure of a camel and rider, Tang dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and decoration. Note the larger size (78.1 cm) and the slightly different rendition of the camel motif, here with a simple camel rider only.
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