Three-color camel riding figurines

[Three color figurines of Hu people riding camels]

Three color figurines of Hu people riding camels, about the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty (713-741), are 74 cm high and 55 cm long
The camel stands on a rhombus pallet, with its head raised and neck pulled up, hissing, four leg muscles bulging, and four feet staggered back and forth, marching. A Hu man sits on a hunchback, with deep eyes and high nose, and whiskers. The head is tied with Futou, wearing a lapel, narrow sleeve, crotch, knee-high Hu suit, hakama and high boots. Hold the camel in front of the meat peak. There is a monkey standing on the shoulder. The monkey holds the head with one paw, holds the cheek with one paw, and looks naughty. Except for the white powder on the face of Hu people and the ink painting of facial features and beard, the rest parts are painted with tricolor glaze. Hu people and camels are mainly colored with deep and light ochre yellow respectively. The head, neck, legs and hair of camels are painted with light yellow glaze, and the back of camels is painted with green, ochre and yellow glaze
This three-color work of the Tang Dynasty was unearthed in Luoyang, Henan Province. People, camels and monkeys are vividly portrayed, the three-color glaze is even and flawless, the color matching is natural, beautiful and not flashy, and the shaping art and the firing technology of the three-color glaze have reached a highly skilled level, which shows the superb technique of the three-color glaze in China’s Tang Dynasty
The Hu in this work is the image of the Kang people in the Western Regions. The Tang Dynasty was strong and powerful, with the establishment of capital protectorates in the western regions (Xinjiang), which reopened the “Silk Road” developed by the Han Dynasty from Chang’an, Kyoto, through the Hexi Corridor, to Central Asian countries to the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. Kang people are good merchants. The terracotta figures on camels portrayed the scene of Kang people from the Western Regions coming to China in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and showed their interest in playing monkeys and riding camels while doing business in China.

三彩胡人背猴骑驼俑猴子细部