Eastern Han Dynasty Terracotta Model of a Paper Mill , China '206BC - 220AD'

Slab pottery constructed barn workshop having a peaked roof – open walled form with a mechanical pounder and a large round covered storage container. Light blue-green mottled glazed surface with some iridescence patina to the glaze. Condition: Intact, excellent condition, an unusual example. Provenance: The Living Torah Museum, Brooklyn; ex. Sands of Time, 2002. Sculptural effigies of domesticated animals were often interred in the tombs of nobility and elite members of the social hierarchy. Models like this one were made to represent everything from simple goat or pig pens to the most elaborate towers and palaces. Because very few ancient Chinese buildings have survived intact, these models, along with descriptions from ancient texts, give a good representation of what the buildings might have looked like. This fantastic piece is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. Burial figurines of graceful dancers, mystical beasts, and everyday objects reveal both how people in early China approached death and how they lived. Since people viewed the afterlife as an extension of worldly life, these figurines, called mingqi, sometimes referred as “spirit utensils” or “vessels of ghosts” disclose details of routine existence and provide insights into belief systems over a thousand-year period. For the first time in Chinese history, we have images of rural and daily life during the Han in the form of contemporary...

A Tang dynasty sancai (three color) glazed pottery model of a Taoist official, TL tested by Ralf Kotalla - worldwide oldest private laboratory specialized for genuine thermoluminesce...

Made from the standard orange earthenware body of Han green glazed tomb models, this miniature milling station features a circular millstone and a foot...

An unusually large Chinese Ming Dynasty glazed pottery architectural model of a shrine or cabinet, Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), circa 16th century, China. The shrine model crafted o...