ART 198 - HISTORY OF WORLD CERAMICS

Usually sancai glazing is done in the three colors of green, amber, and brown, but sometimes we see a variation, blue, amber and brown, such as seen in this example. The blue was of from cobalt imported from Persia. In this tomb figure we see the familiar Bactrian camel, but this time, the camel carries 4 musicians between his humps. Seated on a fringed carpet, the 4 musicians reflect this cosmopolitan period. The silk road brought not only exotic goods from faraway lands, but also exotic people and ideas into China. In this quartet of minstrels, we see two heavily bearded figures who represent Central Asians, and two smooth faced ethnic Chinese. One plays a lute, another a flute. Compare the lively poses of these figures and this camel with the rather stiff and rigid style in which the army of Shihuang-di was portrayed and it is easy to see the evolution to a more naturalistic style.

TANG DYNASTY BACTRIAN CAME WITH MUSICIANS EARTHENWARE, China, 750 CE