Minneapolis Institute of Art
Figure of a Squatting Drummer
China
- Date
- 1st-2nd century
- Medium
- Earthenware
- Department
- Asian Art
- Institution
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
Comical caricatures of performers were especially popular in Sichuan Province during the Eastern Han dynasty (A.D. 25-220). Used as tomb figurines, they provided entertainment in the afterlife, and an entire troupe might be interred with the deceased. Drummers like the one represented here specialized in a kind of storytelling that was part spoken, part sung. This one sings merrily, his brow wrinkled in laughter. His heavy body suggests he may be a dwarf. Performers of similar build appear on Han tomb tiles decorated with scenes of juggling and sword balancing. Although ceramic Han tomb figures were mass-produced, this type is surely one of the most engaging and expressive examples of Han dynasty figural art. China, Asia
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