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Subject:Re: Help with information on lifelike human/animal hybrid ceramic figures
Posted By: Bill H Wed, Dec 12, 2018
These look to be anthropomorphic figures of Chinese zodiac animals, of which there are 12, the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. If the pieces shown are all you have, then you're well shy of a complete set. See the link for a complete set that went to auction six years ago with a date of the Chinese Republic-period (1912-1949) but didn't sell. Further below is a link to paste in your browser for details of another set of only ten of the animals that did sell for a decent price.
The bases of your figures are sealed, making clues to their molding methods scant. However, some of them show a whiteness on their bottoms that frequently means they are slip-cast, a technology that appears not to have been used in China until the Republic Period (1912-1949). I checked the liveauctioneers and eBay archives and couldn't find anything in this line exactly like yours. This could simply mean they were made just for export to Southeast Asia or for domestic sale in China. What I can see of the red marks is too fragmentary for meaningful translation.
https://classic.liveauctioneers.com/item/2810308_chinese-porcelain-ten-figures
Best regards,
Bill H.
URL Title :Chinese Zodiac Figures
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