A PAINTED GREY POTTERY MODEL OF KNEELING CAMEL
Northern Wei dynasty, 6th century
Laden with cargo and game birds supported by wooden slates between humps, the camel neighs with its head turned to the left, its rump up and short tail raised, all supported on rectangular base, covered overall with earth encrustations.
10 1/8in (26cm) high; 10 1/2in (27cm) long
Footnotes:
北魏 灰陶加彩臥駱駝俑

Pottery camels of this type belonged to a large procession in the burial ritual, often accompanied by laden camels, caparisoned horses, musicians, dancers, servants, guards, and a ox-drawn carriage, representing the journey into afterlife. The modeling and style of the present example is closely related to the Northern Wei horse in this sale, lot 287.

A very similarly modeled painted pottery camel discovered in 1979 from the Eastern Wei tomb of Prices Linhe, dated 550, in Cixian, Hebei province, is illustrated by J.C.Y. Watt in China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 A.D., New York, 2004, p. 239, no. 133, where the author noted 'The kneeling posture of this camel, one of two excavated from the tomb ... is quite distinctive and first appears in the mid-sixth century.'

Compare a standing camel of this type in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated on the museum's website, accession number 28.121.

For a set of procession figures in private collection, see R.D. Jacobsen, Celestial Horses & Long Sleeve Dancers: The David W. Dewey Collection of Ancient Chinese Tomb Sculpture, Minneapolis, 2013, pp. 134-135.

The dating of this piece is consistent with the results of thermoluminescence test, Oxford certificate number C106z5, 4 October 2006.

PLEASE NOTE: This report describes, but may not be limited to, major condition issues for the lot.


Overall in stable condition. Neck and part of the camel's head restored. Legs broken and repaired. Brakes through cargo and body, repaired. Tail possibly restored.