Page 193 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

This charmingly modeled fgure of a female attendant is engaging for its quiet beauty and the empathy
demonstrated by the potter who created it. The fgure appears to be that of a young girl who stands
with head slightly bowed and hands clasped before her and partially hidden by her sleeves. The pose
appears to be that which would be adopted by such an attendant as she stood in the shadows waiting
patiently for instructions from her mistress or master. Her feet, in their simple shoes, are parallel and
slightly apart to provide stability and allow her to stand motionless for as long as was required. Her
hands, hidden in her sleeves, would not have fdgeted. To those she served she would have been
invisible and forgotten until she was required to perform some task. However, although she is depicted
with her head bowed in submission, the potter has nevertheless imbued her with a quiet dignity and
grace that belies her simple, practical, clothes and ungainly footwear.

This fgure would have been made for the tomb of a member of the Han elite: possibly even a member
of the royal family. Similar fgures – both standing and kneeling – were excavated in 1966 from funerary
pits at Renjiapo in the eastern suburbs of Xi’an (see Wang Xueli and Wu Zhenfeng, ‘Xi’an Renjiapo Han
ling congzang keng de fajue’, Kaogu, 1976. no. 2, pp. 129-33). Chang’an (modern Xi’an) was the capital
of the Western Han until in AD 25, when a concatenation of disasters forced the removal of the capital
to Luoyang, further east. The funerary pits at Renjiapo have been linked by archaeologists to the tomb
of Empress Dou (d. 135 BC), who was the wife of Emperor Wen (r. 180-157 BC). Thus fgures of this
type may be regarded as representing attendants from the royal household. The standing fgures from
Renjiapo are very similar to the current fgure, although they are slightly smaller and appear to have held
something – perhaps the pole of a lantern – in their clasped hands. It is probably also fair to say that the
face of the current fgure has been rendered with greater sensitivity than those of the Renjiapo fgures.
Both the current and the Renjiapo fgures have retained traces of polychrome, which had been applied as
cold-paint to the surface of the clay. Such cold-paint is inevitably fragile and rarely survives burial intact.
However the remaining paint provides a hint of the bright colours that would have formerly covered
these fgures.

In contrast to the later Tang dynasty, the tombs of the wealthy in Han times often contained models of
items closely associated with daily life. These included, well-heads, enclosures for farm animals, the
domestic animals themselves, and grain stores. In regard to models of human fgures, it is interesting to
note that although military fgures – including cavalry, mythical fgures, and entertainers were made to
be placed into the tombs of wealthy members of Han society, some of the most charming fgures were
those representing attendants, such as the current example. It is tempting, although unsubstantiated, to
see a correlation between this interest in and sympathy with everyday objects and people of lower rank,
and the fact that the frst emperor of the Western Han dynasty - Liu Bang, who ruled as Emperor Gaozu
(r. 202-195 BC), was himself a commoner from amongst the peasantry, who would have recognised the
worth of those of who did not belong to the elite classes.

Rosemary Scott
International Academic Director, Asian Art

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