Fonctionnaire militaire

Entre 386 et 534
Terre cuite, Moulage, Polychromie
Statue, Mingqi
Don manuel : Schulmann, Josette

M.C. 9940

This large military official, reputed to be the pendant of a famous mingqi in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, was published in its time by René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé, former curator of Cernuschi Museum who became the first director of this prestigious American institution. Despite a slight difference in height – 64.7 cm for the Parisian piece and 62.2 cm for the Californian statuette – this is likely the case. The treatment of the armour, face and feet is identical. The difference in hair style, signs of different functions occupied in a large household, the folds of the sleeves and the robe give each of the two pieces an individuality that only underscores their similarity. The garment worn by this mingqi, donated to the museum by M. and Mme Schulmann, and its extreme slimness are quite similar that of a warrior found in Luoyang in the tomb of Yuan Shao, dated 528.

Reference(s) : Gilles Béguin, Activités du musée Cernuschi, Arts asiatiques, 1998, t.53, p. 86.
René-Yvon Lefevre d'Argencé- Dian Turner (ed.) Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco/Kodansha International, 1973, p.122-123, n°51.
Li He, Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, New York, Rizzoli, 1996, p. 86, 118, n°122.
Art chinois, Musée Cernuschi, acquisitions 1993-2004, Paris Musées/Editions Findakly, 2005.
Gilles Béguin p.84.
Gilles Béguin, Le petit peuple des tombes, Paris Musées, 2010, p.49.