The figure is seated in rajalilisana (Royal Ease) resting on her left hand, her right forearm on her raised right knee, her head tilted to her left, her robes moulded to her body with jewelled corsage and celestial scarf, the gilding scraped.

Another very similar figure in the British Museum, which was in the Cleveland Museum Yuan Dynasty Exhibition of 1968, is now dated to the Jin Dynasty (1127-1234). The Duberlys preserved a letter from John Ayres congratulating them on their purchase and saying that he had hoped to have bought this piece for the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Literature: Anthony du Boulay, The Duberly Collection of Chinese Art at Winchester College (Winchester, 2019), pp. 124-125

Provenance: Bequeathed as part of the Duberly Collection, 1978; purchased by Major Montagu and Lady Eileen Duberly from John Sparks, 17 April 1962 (£546); formerly in the collection of Mr. A.E. Gilou, sold Sotheby’s, London, 9 April 1962, lot 39

Location: Treasury, Gallery 2