Page 402 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

The pregnant female figure, however, may have 1 Excavated in 1968 (M 1:4146); reported: Zhongguo i98ob,
1:95-96.
a much more exotic origin: late versions of the
2 Hubei 1991, color pi. 6:2, 3.
Egyptian goddess Tauert, known in small figurines 3 Rawson 1998)3, 44 - 47.
in the shape of an upstanding pregnant hippopota-
mus have come to light in parts of the Near East or
Iran. (An agate carving of this pregnant figure, with
3
a lion's head, seems to have been made in Iran. )
This foot or support may incorporate features bor-
rowed from peoples along the north and western
peripheries of the area; other features, in particular
incense burners and bears, were adopted from the
border areas and substantially modified by the Han
to suit their own visual context and above all their
own symbolic or iconographic significances. This
medley of sources is characteristic of the richness,
vitality, and originality of Han culture. JR

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