Straw-glazed pottery pair of foreigners of which one has a beard. Holes in their hands suggest that they used to hold a stick of some kind, perhaps a flag or weapon. The depiction of foreigners as tomb models was very popular during the Sui (AD 581 – 618) and Tang (618 – 907) periods and these two figures date from those periods of time. A layer of water-base paint was originally applied over the glaze and even though most of it has gone now, the remaining traces give a good indication of how the statues must have looked. Man with beard: Height 18.8 cm. Width 6.2 cm. Depth 5.2 cm. The other man: Height 19.6 cm. Width 5.5 cm. Depth 4.7 cm. THESE ITEMS WERE SOLD AT AUCTION IN 2024.