A reddish clay haniwa figure. Kofun period, 6th/7th century
A reddish clay haniwa figure. Kofun period, 6th/7th century
Hand-built hollow figure of typical shape, rising from a circular base, skirt and lower body with vertical striations, a belt around the waist, circular openings to the sides, the face showing three openings for the eyes and mouth, the nose and ears simply modelled, and bearing a jar on its head, the reverse of the head with remains of a hair knot. Head restuck. Black lacquer stand.
As noted by Professor Fumio Miki, formerly Chief of Primitive Art, Department of Archaeology, Tokyo National Museum, relatively few haniwa figures with jars on their heads have been excavated. It may be assumed to represent a woman on the basis of its resemblance to other identifiably female figures excavated in the Kanto Region and datable to the final phase of the Kofun period. For an illustration of a similar example, see Fumio Miki, Haniwa, Nihon no bijutsu, no. 19, Tokyo, November 1967, pl. 7 and p. 51, excavated in Takado, Ibaraki Prefecture, in the collection of the Department of Anthropology, Tokyo University Art Museum. The same example, along with another from the Niwatorizuka tomb in Tochigi Prefecture with a child on its back and a jar on its head, is reproduced in Nagamine Koichi and Mizuno Masayoshi, Nihon genshi bijutsu taikei (Compendium of Japanese Primitive Art), vol.3, Dogu haniwa (Pottery Figures and Haniwa), Tokyo 1978, nos.181, 182. For a lively recent discussion of haniwa and their use in and around the monumental tombs of the Kofun period, see Yoko Hsueh Shirai, 'Funerary Objects Meant to Be Seen', https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/art-japan/kofun-period/a/haniwa-warrior.
Height 57,5 cm
Expertise
The result of a thermoluminescence test by the Research Laboratory for Archaeology at Oxford University (sample no. 281d90, dated 15 February 1977) is consistent with the dating of this lot (parts of this report in photocopy of a fax available)
A certificate by Fumio Miki without date states that the figure has been excavated in Ibaraki prefecture (photocopy of a fax available)
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A reddish clay haniwa figure. Kofun period, 6th/7th century
Hand-built hollow figure of typical shape, rising from a circular base, skirt and lower body with vertical striations, a belt around the waist, circular openings to the sides, the face showing three openings for the eyes and mouth, the nose and ears simply modelled, and bearing a jar on its head, the reverse of the head with remains of a hair knot. Head restuck. Black lacquer stand.
As noted by Professor Fumio Miki, formerly Chief of Primitive Art, Department of Archaeology, Tokyo National Museum, relatively few haniwa figures with jars on their heads have been excavated. It may be assumed to represent a woman on the basis of its resemblance to other identifiably female figures excavated in the Kanto Region and datable to the final phase of the Kofun period. For an illustration of a similar example, see Fumio Miki, Haniwa, Nihon no bijutsu, no. 19, Tokyo, November 1967, pl. 7 and p. 51, excavated in Takado, Ibaraki Prefecture, in the collection of the Department of Anthropology, Tokyo University Art Museum. The same example, along with another from the Niwatorizuka tomb in Tochigi Prefecture with a child on its back and a jar on its head, is reproduced in Nagamine Koichi and Mizuno Masayoshi, Nihon genshi bijutsu taikei (Compendium of Japanese Primitive Art), vol.3, Dogu haniwa (Pottery Figures and Haniwa), Tokyo 1978, nos.181, 182. For a lively recent discussion of haniwa and their use in and around the monumental tombs of the Kofun period, see Yoko Hsueh Shirai, 'Funerary Objects Meant to Be Seen', https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/art-japan/kofun-period/a/haniwa-warrior.
Height 57,5 cm
Expertise
The result of a thermoluminescence test by the Research Laboratory for Archaeology at Oxford University (sample no. 281d90, dated 15 February 1977) is consistent with the dating of this lot (parts of this report in photocopy of a fax available)
A certificate by Fumio Miki without date states that the figure has been excavated in Ibaraki prefecture (photocopy of a fax available)
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
