12th-13th century
The figure is standing on an octagonal plinth and is dressed in long belted robes and wearing an official’s cap, the hands clasped together. The white porcelain body is covered with a transparent bluish-white glaze with rich iron-brown splashes, mainly covering the garment folds and cap. The face is well-defined with solemn expression and showing a faint smile.
20 cm high
Provenance: Formerly in the collection of Elisabeth W. Hendriks, Amsterdam
A nearly identical figure is in The British Museum and illustrated in S.J. Vainker, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain from Prehistory to the Present, 1991, pl. 94. Two further figures, part of a zodiac set, are illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Volume 3 (II), London, 2006, pl. 1586.
