PAIR OF GREY POTTERY DOGS

Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534)

Seated dog: Height: 11.5 cm (4.5 in)

Reclining dog: Length: 17.3 cm (6.75 in)

Both dogs are well modeled with detailed facial expressions and masculature. The seated dogis naturalistically modeled sitting on its haunches with its forelegs outstretched and the back arched. The head has wrinkled features and a snub nose beneath the protruding eyes and floppy ears. Traces of red pigment are evident on mouth. The reclining dog rests in a recumbent position gnawing a bone grasped within its forepaws. The head has wrinkled features beneath protruding eyes and floppy ears, and the jaws are modeled with teeth bared. There are traces of red pigmentation.

Thermoluminescence tests, Oxford, sample no. 366b97, and no. 366b98 confirm the dating of this pair.

Provenance: The Collection of Captain S.N. Ferris Luboshez

Exhibited: University of Maryland Art Gallery, 1972, and illustrated in the Luboshez Catalogue, no. 6, fig. 2.

Compare a similar seated dog from the collection of Ezekiel Schloss, illustrated in "Ming Ch'i", The Katonah Gallery, 1975, no. 40 and again in Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, vol. II, pl. no. 45B. Another reclining pottery dog with it head raised is illustrated in Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, vol. II, pl. 45A, also illustrated in Into the Afterlife: Han and Six Dynasties Chinese Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection, pl. no. 40, by Candice J. Lewis.