Galerie Golconda

A series of twelve figures in light beige, unglazed porcelain. The pieces were hand-made with the knife technique, used to facet the bodies and the faces. Each figure has a different expression, and also a different headdress. Each has been personalized. Two holes around the elbows and on top of the headdress lead us to think that there had been additional ornamentation that may have been lost. We know that the dignitaries during the Song period wore a ceremonial robe of different colours depending on their rank: purple for the high dignitaries, followed by vermillion for the 3^rd to 6^th ranks, green for the 7^th and turquoise for the 8^th. The son of the heavens himself wore a yellow ceremonial robe. The clothes were made of twelve pieces of fabric, in allusion to the twelve months. The number 12, the symbol of the universe divides the sky, considered a cupola, into twelve sectors, the 12 signs of the zodiac.