Art ancien Chine Japon
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House model (Dutta-10017)
MODEL HOUSE
Terracotta
Period: Giao-Chi, 1st – 3rd century AD
Length : 31cm
Height: 29cm
This object was uncovered in a dig at Thanh Hao, North Vietnam. Very rare, the house is made up of 6 independent parts, consisting of a base-block, a living space on the first floor, another for the second floor, a porch roof and two roof-pieces. Inside the main courtyard one can see a small sculpture of a chicken. Assuming that the main living quarters faced the rising sun in the east, the principal living quarters on the first floor are south-facing. The lower parts of the building were set aside for farming activities and livestock. This type of model house, very few of which have reached us, is rendered even rarer by the fact that it is not only complete but also intact. On account of the fact that in those days buildings were made from wood and vegetable matter, these ceramics are the only way we have of knowing the nature of the architecture of that period in Vietnamese history.
To our knowledge, no object of this type has been on the market in the past fifty years.
To our knowledge, no object of this type has been on the market in the past fifty years.
Literature: Manual of Archaeology, Vietnam. The ceramics of Southeast Asia by Roxanna Brown. Vietnamese Ceramics, a separate tradition by John Stevenson & John Guy.
price chf 4'500.-