This fine and extremely rare, possibly unique pair of pottery figural tiles was made during the Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1279). They comprise two moulded figures, male and female, luted to thick pottery slabs to form a pair of tiles (the join in the "slab" of the female figure is not a repair, but where two slabs were luted together during manufacture). Note the detail to the clothing and facial features. On the surface in places, particularly with the male figure, are ancient "calcified" plant growths. We bought these a few years but have not previously offered them for sale.

As with many of our finer items, we have had one of these tiles tested by Oxford Authentications, the only testers of ancient pottery accepted by all major dealers, auction houses and museums worldwide, and their Thermoluminescence Analysis Report that will accompany these tiles is shown with our pictures below; this confirms the date of manufacture as "between 700 and 1200 years ago".

They are a good size, each with a height of 45 cm, width 15 cm, combined weight 18.4 kg. The luting of the male figure to its base is a little lose but we leave the decision of whether or not to attend to this to the eventual buyer. There is no restoration or repair; simply superb !

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