A RARE PAINTED WOOD FIGURE OF A ‘BEAUTY’, EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTYChina, 4th century BC. Elegantly yet plainly carved, the large oval head strikingly scooped out and painted with almond-shaped eyes below arched brows, centered by a slender nose, flanked by elongated ears, the frowning mouth simply incised. The arms are folded in front of the chest with joined hands. The separately carved feet are inserted into square mortise holes at the base of the long robe, which is painted with a sash and two long tasseled ends.Provenance: Galleria La Balaustra Antichita, Bologna, Italy, 1999. Paolo Bertuzzi, acquired from the above. A copy of a letter from Galleria La Balaustra Antichita, written by Giuliana Zanetti, dated 11 August 1999, describing the present lot as the figure of a monk, found in an underwater tomb, and dating it to the Han dynasty, apanies this lot. Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022) was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy. He was the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashionpany with customers such as the Rothschild family, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. Paolo Bertuzzi later took over his mother’s business and designed exclusive pieces, some of which were exhibited in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, USA. He was also an avid collector of antiques for more than 60 years. His collection includes both archaic and contemporary art, and he edited two important books about Asian art, Goa Made - An Archaeological Discovery, about a large-scale archaeological project carried out with the Italian and Indonesian governments, and Majapahit, Masterpieces from a Forgotten Kingdom.Condition: Good condition,mensurate with age. Extensive wear, natural age cracks and splits, signs of weathering and erosion, chips and nicks, rubbing to pigments, losses.Weight: 827.1 gDimensions: Height 63.5 cm (incl. feet) and 56 cm (excl. feet)Given the perishable nature of wood, such figures are extremely rare, the later pottery statues and vessels being much moremon. The practice of burying wood figures began in the Eastern Zhou dynasty and flourished during the Kingdom of Chu (740-330 BC). Several wood statues have been excavated from Chu tombs in Changsha, Hunan.Literatureparison:For a closely related painted wood figure, dated to the Eastern Zhou, circa 3rd Century BC, see J.J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art, Two Thousand Years of Chinese Sculpture, New York, 2008, no. 2. Another closely related figure was included in the exhibition, Early Chinese art: 8th century BC - 9th century AD, Eskenazi, London, 6 June - 8 July 1995, no. 45.Auction resultparison:Type: Closely relatedAuction: Christie’s New York, 21 March 2000, lot 193Price: USD 68,500 or approx.EUR 115,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writingDescription: A very rare pair of large painted wood figures of attendants, Eastern Z