TimeLine’s Hands-On Experts Authenticate a pair of Hands-Off Chinese Footballers

Twenty-two countries across Europe – reaching from Latvia to Turkey; and from Portugal to Ukraine - will have watched thirty-two of their country’s teams play in football’s Europa League during 2024-2025. The Europa Championship competition will also have glued citizens to their TV screens in sixteen countries - from Spain to Scotland - from which thirty-six teams will have qualified to participate. What the team players and their vociferous supporters - on the terraces at the matches, and on settees back home – will yell in unison, and most frequently, at the harassed referees during each game will most probably be the accusation, “Handball!” delivered in a variety of accents and colourful foreign tongues, with an intention to persuade the referee that, at the very least, a free kick ought to be awarded.

A moment of amused irony probably flashed across the minds of our own referees – TimeLine Auctions Expert Vetting Team - as its members gathered during their final inspections of lots that remained in the running for inclusion in our February 2023 auction. Lot 0411 passed into each expert’s hands and felt the authoritative brush of fingers, eyes, and sixth senses as the forensic investigations commenced, and accumulated knowledge eventual awarded the lot, not a free kick, but freedom to proceed to our next auction. Its entry on the TimeLine Auction’s catalogue page would read:

CHINESE TANG CUJU FOOTBALL PLAYER PAIR

TANG DYNASTY, AD 618-907
Height of figures: 15⅛ins and 16¾ins.

A pair of ceramic male figures playing a game of cuju; each wearing a floor-length robe and balancing a ball on one foot; one figure leaning forwards with his arms held behind his back, looking down towards the ball balanced on the end of his raised right foot; the other figure moving his arms in opposite directions in an attempt to regain his balance, head leaning left, his right leg bent across his body at the knee, balancing a ball on the heel of his foot. Each figure displays semi-naturalistic facial features, and hair tied in a top knot. Extensive polychrome pigmentation remains on the figures.
Accompanied by thermoluminescence analysis report nos. C122k26 and C122k25 from Oxford Authentication.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11697-199217.

The name of the Chinese ball game cuju translates into English as kick-ball. Its history dates back over 2,000 years, making it the earliest recorded game of football to involve kicking a leather ball into a net. Touching the ball with the hands at any time during play was strictly forbidden. During the game, two teams competed to kick the ball through a hoop in the centre of the field without the ball reaching the ground. The team that scored most points won the contest. The ball was usually made from leather and stuffed with feathers or chaff. The goal posts, constructed from braced timbers, held up a net with a 2-foot diameter circular hole at its middle. To score a goal the ball, which was passed by kicking it from one team member to another, had to shoot through the net’s central hole under the impact of a hefty kick. During the Han Dynasty cuju was often played by trainee cavalry soldiers learning to ride swiftly while firing their weapons. In the later Tang Dynasty, to which our lot is dated, cuju also enjoyed popularity among women of the royal court.

The second illustration on this STORIES page shows an example of a cuju pitch layout during the Tang dynasty. The image is used courtesy of the FIFA Museum, which is located in Zurich, Switzerland. The museum also has online images showing cuju pitch layouts used during other dynasties, as well as interesting information celebrating the rich heritage of football, and the game's unique ability to connect and inspire people around the world.

For further information on Tang Pottery, see Prodan, M., The Art of the Tang Potter, London, 1960, which illustrates and discusses similarly styled figures.

Finally, we are pleased to report that our Chinese Tang Cuju Football Player Pair
sold at the auction for £5,200 inc. bp.