A POTTERY 'ACROBATS' TRIPOD INCENSE BURNER Han DynastyA POTTERY 'ACROBATS' TRIPOD INCENSE BURNERHan DynastyThe three figures positioned in a vertical formation performing the handstand, two with their arms resting on the rims of the lian vessel below them, the third with his arms grasping the legs of the other performers, the vessel of cylindrical shape with straight sides supported by three cabriole legs. 26cm (10 1/4in) highProvenance: Roger Keverne Ltd., Summer 2009, London, no.25Oxford Authentication report C208d68 is consistent with the dating of this lot.Pottery figures of entertainers including musicians, dancers, story tellers and acrobats, played a very important part in court life of the Han period. These figures were positioned in a complex of furnishing aimed at sustaining the tomb occupants in their afterlife existence. Small figures of acrobats similar to the present figures can be seen doing handstands on the edges of lian vessels. See for example the pottery group of acrobats, Han dynasty, forming a pyramid atop a lian unearthed in 1972, Luoyang City, Henan province, illustrated in Treasures from the Han, The Empress Place, Singapore, 1990, p.101. A pair of pottery acrobats performing a handstand, Han dynasty, is in the collection of the Cernuschi Museum, Paris, acc.no.M.C.9799.A related group of pottery acrobats, Han dynasty, was sold at Christie's New York, 21 March 2000, lot 242.