A MASSIVE AND RARE BUFF POTTERY FIGURE OF A CAMEL AND MONKEY RIDER
Tang dynasty
Naturalistically modelled standing four-square on a pierced rectangular base, raised on tall limbs and with a upward curling neck with raised head, the saddle cloth weighed-down by an elaborate cargo of monster-mask saddle-bags and coils of twisted cloth, with horizontal boards to further support a variety of vessels, game birds, joints of meat, a hare and other provisions, atop which sits a monkey clinging precariously to the front hump, highlights of red, black and green and gilt pigments to the bags.
28 1/4in (73cm) high; 22 1/2in (57.4cm) long
Footnotes:
唐 加彩灰陶載猴駱駝俑

Provenance:
Christie's New York, 18 September 1997, lot 344
The Harold and Ruth Newman Collection, Connecticut, 1997-2022

來源：
紐約佳士得，1997年9月18日，拍品編號344
Harold and Ruth Newman舊藏，康州，1997-2022年

Depictions of monkeys in Tang pottery are relatively rare. For two other examples, both riding camels, see a monkey on a striding camel in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, no. 35; another taller example, with a monkey similarly seated atop an array of goods tied to the camels back in the Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, accession no. 2003-00227, is illustrated on the museum website.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C97c95 is consistent with the dating of this lot.

Restorations, replacements and losses including but not limited to the following:
This is a terrific example of its type, with wonderful Greek key banding under the belly and around the neck and rump, and humorously animated monkey astride its griffin- mask saddlebags.
All four legs have been broken near the body and restored. The lower legs of the camel have touch-ups, any additional breaks are not readily visible under UV light The neck has also been broken near the body and restored, some drapery swags have been broken off and restuck. A section of the left hind leg of the monkey is missing; the foot remains as an integral part of the saddlebag. The black and carmine pigment details are still visible on the body, but faded.