Ancient Chinese, Tang Dynasty Terracotta Extremely Rare Set of Female Musicians and Dancers High 23,5 cm., tallest Luoyang region, Henan provinceTang dynasty, late 7th – early 8th centuries Provenance: Old Dutch private collection, acquired back in the 1990’s. Auction result comparison: Compare with a closely related set of two musicians at Christies New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art part I, 17 - 18 March 2016, lot 1479, sold for USD $27,500. See photo number 68. - Scientific Report for the set of the musicians and dancers:A thermoluminescence analysis report issued by Laboratory R. Kotalla on April 09th, 2021, based on sample number 01B050421, sets the firing date of all eighth (8) samples taken at 1300 years ago. A copy of the report, issued by Lab. Kotalla, is accompanying this lot. TL test. - Extra test: Pre-dose test has been done: Pre-dose test confirms old firing without any kind of artificial x-ray treatments! Consisting of six kneeling musicians and two dancers, this group of young female performers represents a favorite type of orchestral entertainment of the early Tang dynasty. Nearly identical in posse, costume, hairstyle, and facial features, each woman is seated on a square base possibly representing a floor mat. Each figure wears a long, high-waisted skirt and blouse with long, narrow sleeves under a short-sleeved garment with a V-neck, tied just at the bodice with a silk ribbon. All musicians wear a long shawl draped over both shoulders. The figures have identical hairstyle, parted in the middle, drawn up and tied high double-chignons at the back of the head. While some of the heads are slightly turned, the round faces are nearly identical, with delicately penciled C-shaped feathered eyebrows, narrow eyes, rouged cheeks, and tiny vermilion lips. Kucha (or Kuche) was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin and south of the Muzat River. Literature comparison: These eighth figures are similar to a group of ten seated female court musicians in the Shoso-in, Japan, illustrated by Ryoichi Hayashi in The Silk Road and the Shoso-in, New York/Tokyo, 1975, p. 96, fig. 103. Three similar painted pottery figures of seated female court musicians illustrated by J. Baker in Appeasing the Spirits: Sui and Tang Dynasty Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection, Hofstra Museum, Hofstra University, 1993, p. 18, no. 9, are described as wearing Kuchean fashions, and representing the Kuchean modes of music and entertainment that were popular during the Sui and early Tang periods. The same costume and Kuchean hair style can also be seen on a group of standing figures illustrated p. 17, nos. 6 and 7. In discussing a group of nine similarly attired and coiffed standing figures of female musicians illustrated in China: A History in Art, New York, 1979, p. 132 (top), the authors, B. Smith and Wango Weng, note that female musicians from Chinese Turkestan played for the court, and that “musicians from Kucha in Central Asia probably exerted the most influence” at court.