On view
Asian Art
Huo Pavilion
Huo Pavilion
Tomb figure of a female attendant
Chinese
Western Han dynasty, 206 BCE–9 CE
1999-69
Small ceramic attendant figures like this have been excavated from pits associated with royal tombs near the Western Han capital of Chang’an (present-day Xi’an). These objects represent a tradition of funerary sculpture that descends from the terracotta warriors found at the burial mausoleum of the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). Like the Qin terracotta warriors, this kneeling attendant was once brightly colored. Only bits of pigment now remain, along with patches of the white slip that would have underlaid them. The figure kneels with the long, draping sleeves of her garment, a typical feature of Han costume, joined together in a gesture of respect. The sculpture dates to a time before the arrival of the chair in China; its kneeling posture reflects the common seated position typical of this period.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Tomb figure of a female attendant
Medium
Dark gray clay with pigments over white slip
Dimensions
h. 39.4 cm., w. 16.8 cm., d. 13.8 cm. (15 1/2 x 6 5/8 x 5 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund, in honor of Allen Rosenbaum
Object Number
1999-69
Place Made
Asia, China
Culture
Period
Subject
–1999 J. J. Lally & Co. (New York, NY), sold to the Princeton University Art Museum, 1999.
Tomb figure of a kneeling female attendant
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1999," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 59, no. 1/2 (2000): p. 70-101., p. 96
- Cary Y. Liu, et al. Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology and Architecture of the "Wu Family Shrines", (Princeton University Art Museum, 2005), p. 412–13
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 263 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 315
