Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1500-1600 (circa)
Materials:earthenware
Technique:glazed, slipped, painted, cold painted,
Subjects:servant/domestic worker
Dimensions:Height: 21 centimetres Width: 5 centimetres Depth: 5 centimetres
Description:
Green-glazed earthenware funerary model of a male servant. This model of a male servant stands on an unglazed square flat base. His left arm is relaxed at his side and the right arm is held in a fist in front of his chest in an attitude of both homage and loyalty. His cross-over robe is tied at the waist and comes down to just above his boots; this is covered by a runny emerald-green glaze. The figure’s face is finely modelled, slipped and cold-painted. He wears a headdress consisting of a conical cap with a long trailing back, squared off at the shoulders, covering most of his hair. Undoubtedly this figure represents a higher-ranking servant than the manual sedan chair bearers.
IMG
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:In Ming China, eternity was considered a place where men and women continued to play the roles which they established during their lifetime. Such figures provided evidence of tomb occupants’ prestige and enabled them to pursue a suitable life beyond the grave. As in previous dynasties these mass-produced figures were not individual portraits of specific living servants but instead were generic representations of classes of people required by the elite to help them continue to pursue a comfortable and civilized life.
Materials:earthenware
Technique:glazed, slipped, painted, cold painted,
Subjects:servant/domestic worker
Dimensions:Height: 21 centimetres Width: 5 centimetres Depth: 5 centimetres
Description:
Green-glazed earthenware funerary model of a male servant. This model of a male servant stands on an unglazed square flat base. His left arm is relaxed at his side and the right arm is held in a fist in front of his chest in an attitude of both homage and loyalty. His cross-over robe is tied at the waist and comes down to just above his boots; this is covered by a runny emerald-green glaze. The figure’s face is finely modelled, slipped and cold-painted. He wears a headdress consisting of a conical cap with a long trailing back, squared off at the shoulders, covering most of his hair. Undoubtedly this figure represents a higher-ranking servant than the manual sedan chair bearers.
IMG
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:In Ming China, eternity was considered a place where men and women continued to play the roles which they established during their lifetime. Such figures provided evidence of tomb occupants’ prestige and enabled them to pursue a suitable life beyond the grave. As in previous dynasties these mass-produced figures were not individual portraits of specific living servants but instead were generic representations of classes of people required by the elite to help them continue to pursue a comfortable and civilized life.
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