Tomb attendants

Tomb attendants

Ceramic with dark brown pigment and black, green, and yellow glaze

Figure 1: 54 × 18 × 15.2 cm (21 1/4 × 7 1/16 × 6 in.) Figure 2: 52 × 19 × 15.3 cm (20 1/2 × 7 1/2 × 6 in.)

Gift of Richard and Ruth Dickes

2019-300.1-.2

Asia, China

Two tomb figures that likely come from a much larger group. Each stands on a square base wearing a dark brown outer tunic with a cream lapel that is tied at the waist by an amber colored sash. The tunic is worn over a green robe that extends to the ankles. The faces of both men include a mustache, short beard at the chin, locks in front of the ears, and prominent arched eyebrows. Figure .1 wears a dark conical hat and holds his hands one atop the other in front of his chest. Vertical holes in the hands indicate that he must have held some implement (now missing). Figure .2 wears a dark squared hat with an amber feather on each side. He holds his hands to each side grasping the sash, which supports a round-topped tablet at a diagonal on his back. The green, amber, and cream glazes used for the figures’ clothes clearly evokes the famed three-color sancai glazes of the Tang dynasty (618-907).

Chinese

Ming

funerary objects, ceramics

Ceramic, glaze

tombs, figures (representations)