A PAIR OF CHINESE BUFF POTTERY FIGURES OF A RAM AND EWE, POSSIBLY TANG DYNASTY (618-906), each modeled in a recumbent position with traces of red pigment in eye,nose and mouth details, as well as areas of white pigment throughout revealing a gray pottery body, the ram height 3 1/2", length 7 3/4"; the ewe height 3 1/2", length 7".Note; these ram and ewe pottery figures were probably funerary burial items made for the deceased's use in the afterlife and would account for their virtually pristine condition. The use of man made figures representing those found in life happened gradually, over one thousand years, replacing the traditional practice of sacrifice or brutal burying of living relatives, slaves and livestock with the deceased. Confucius (559 BC-479 BC) is said to have abhorred the traditional sacrifice or burying alive practices but found the use of representational figures as unacceptable because of the custom they represented. By the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) the practice of burying figures representing the living was limited, shifting to functional objects, wares and precious items.