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Scientific Analysis Report: A thermoluminescence analysis report issued by Oxford Authentication on 24 August 2026, based on sample number C126m9, sets the firing date of the two samples taken between 900 and 1500 years ago, consistent with the dating above. A copy of the report accompanies this lot.
Expert’s note
The figure’s animated pose, with one arm raised and both hands clenched as though grasping reins, identifies him as a foreign groom, originally intended to accompany a pottery horse or camel. His large, prominent eyes, broad features, and long curly hair, together with his Western-style costume, characterize him as a Central Asian type familiar in early Tang funerary sculpture. Although made for burial, such figures vividly evoke the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Tang China and the far-reaching cultural exchanges fostered by the Silk Roads. Chang’an, the ancient Tang capital, was home to numerous foreign communities, including merchants, envoys, and travelers from major Central Asian centers such as Samarkand and Bukhara, whose presence contributed to the remarkable diversity of Tang society.
China, 7th-8th century. Superbly modeled standing in a dynamic pose with his right hand raised with clenched fist, while his left arm is held close to the torso with the hand extended forward. The youthful figure is clad in a knee-length tunic crossed over the chest. The fleshy face with large eyes, a broad nose, and full lips slightly parted to reveal teeth, the curled hair secured by a plain headband centered by a circular boss. The figure is covered in a finely crackled straw and deep amber-colored glaze, the latter mainly reserved for the robe, with the head and legs partially left unglazed.
Provenance: Christian Deydier, Oriental Bronzes Ltd., London, 1987. Collection of Louis Depagne, Nice, France, acquired from the above. Bonhams London, 11 July 2005, lot 125. A private collection in France, acquired from the above. A copy of the invoice from Oriental Bronzes, dated 14 September 1987, addressed to Louis Depagne, signed by Christian Deydier, confirming the dating above, and stating a purchase price for the present lot of USD 16,000 or EUR 40,000 (converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing), accompanies the lot. Christian Deydier is an internationally respected scholar, author, and dealer specializing in early Chinese art, particularly archaic bronzes. He holds a degree in Chinese language and civilization from the University of Paris and pursued advanced studies in Chinese archaeology at Tai Ta University in Taipei, where he focused on jiaguwen, the earliest known form of Chinese writing from the Shang dynasty. At the age of twenty-six, he published his first major scholarly work with the école Fran?aise d’Extreme-Orient, followed in 1980 by Les Bronzes Chinoises, the first comprehensive synthesis devoted to Chinese bronzes. Appointed an expert at the H?tel Drouot, he went on to establish Oriental Bronzes Ltd, first in London in 1987 and subsequently in Paris, a gallery that evolved into today’s Galerie Christian Deydier, internationally recognized for its exceptional selection of archaic Chinese bronzes as well as its exhibitions and presentations shown at major venues and art fairs in Paris, Brussels, Hong Kong, and New York. Through his scholarship, gallery program, and publications, Deydier has made a lasting contribution to the academic study and connoisseurly appreciation of ancient Chinese art. Louis Depagne (1926-2006) was a French antiquarian, collector, and connoisseur of Asian art, active in Nice from the 1950s. Having begun his career as an antiques dealer at the Marché aux Puces, he later established Curiosités in Nice, specializing in Chinese and Japanese works of art, including ceramics, bronzes, sculpture, and textiles. Depagne developed his passion for Chinese art through scholarly reading and the formation of his own collection, which, according to the Indian writer and art historian Baldoon Dhingra in 1958, he assembled “with an almost instinctive feeling for the delicacy, charm, and sense of peace that Orientalia always brought him”. His friend and fellow collector Marcel Gerbe likewise recalled him as a knowledgeable sinologist and discerning connoisseur, distinguished by the exacting standards he consistently applied when selecting objects for acquisition. As Depagne himself would often tell Gerbe, “The pebbles on the beach are thousands of years old, but that alone does not make them valuable.”
Condition: Overall good condition with expected wear, firing irregularities, signs of prolonged burial, minor glaze losses with associated touchups, an old repair to the right arm, all as expected from authentic Tang dynasty excavations. Small holes from sample-taking, now filled.
Weight: 1.7 kg
Dimensions: Height 43.2 cm
With an associated padded silk storage box. (2)
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related amber- and cream-glazed figure of a groom, dated Tang dynasty, 58 cm high, exhibited by Littleton & Hennessy, London. Compare a related brown-glazed figure dated to the 8th century in the Kyoto National Museum, museum number GK499. Compare a related sancai figure of a foreign groom with similar facial features, dated Tang dynasty, 58.4 cm high, in the Asian Art Museum, object number B60P536.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 18 September 2024, lot 203
Price: USD 24,000 or approx. EUR 22,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large and impressive sancai-glazed pottery figure of a groom, Tang dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and subject with similar stance and robe. Note the larger size (70 cm) and green glaze.
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