Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Figure of a harpist

  • Description

    In the Tang dynasty (AD 618-906) it was customary to be buried with objects that represented daily life. Because the Chinese capital was the biggest, most cosmopolitan city in the world during the seventh and eighth centuries, burial goods often depict the exotic and rich living. This includes camels, foreigners and other representations of life on the Silk Road; the trade route across Central Asia that helped to make China so prosperous.

    This figure is one of a group of dancers and musicians which formed part of a set of burial objects in Tang dynasty China. They could be compared to the dancers and musicians that feature in descriptions of lavish banquets in some short stories from the Tang dynasty, which are among the earliest examples of Chinese fiction. They are made of low-fired ceramic, on which traces of red pigment remain. Originally they would have been painted all over with colourful pigment, and may even have had some gilded decoration, though this tended to be reserved for larger, grander figures.

    Although they look like sculpted figurines, these examples would have been mass-produced in two-part moulds, then fired and painted in a large workshop. Earthenware figures were not made throughout the whole Tang dynasty, but mainly during the seventh and eighth centuries.

  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia China (place of creation)
    Date
    late 7th century - early 8th century AD
    Tang Dynasty (AD 618 - 907)
    Material and technique
    earthenware, cast, with traces of red pigment
    Dimensions
    15.4 x 9.1 x 8.3 cm max. (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    Technique index
    formed cast
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Bequeathed by J. Gentilli, 1991.
    Accession no.
    EA1991.59

Glossary

earthenware

  • earthenware

    Ceramic material made of clay which is fired to a temperature of c.1000-1200⁰c. The resulting ceramic is non-vitreous and varies in colour from dark red to yellow.

Location

    • Ground floor | Room 10 | China to 800

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

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