Ca. 202BC - 220AD A Han Dynasty pottery stick-man. This pottery figure is standing on thin feet, the body slender and naked, the face finely modelled and the shoulders with holes to hold wooden arms (now missing), trail of red pigment and silk. With the original red, black, and pink colours.Figures such as this were made to accompany the Han elite into the afterlife, providing protection and acting as a display of wealth and status. In antiquity this piece would have appeared very different, dressed in beautiful robes of silk and cotton adorned with intricate patterns. With a striking, almost abstract aesthetic, the Yangling figures are highly distinctive from a great deal of the ming-ch'i produced during the Han Dynasty and are some of the most decorative of all ancient Chinese figurative art.This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot.For similar examples, see:The The Victoria and Albert Museum, item number FE.44-2008. Size: L:555mm / W:85mm ; 2.7kg Provenance: East Anglian private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong.