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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Figure

600 - early 700 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

One of the most vivid visual records of the trade and cultural exchange between the Chinese and foreigners is retained in the form of ceramic figurines. Such figures accentuate the obvious physiological differences of foreigners, not so much as caricatures, but rather to record and depict their 'foreign-ness'.

The Tang Dynasty (619-907AD) can be said to have been one of the most liberal periods of Chinese contact with the foreign world, and this figure of a Northeast-Indian youth playing a drum gives us an idea of how far and wide Chinese contact with the world outside reached.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Earthenware with pigment
Brief description
Figure of a drummer; Cer, China, TANG, PAINTED
Physical description
Figure of a Western Asiatic or Northwest Indian youth playing a drum; Earthenware with traces of pigment
Style
Credit line
MRs B.Z. Seligman Bequest
Subjects depicted
Summary
One of the most vivid visual records of the trade and cultural exchange between the Chinese and foreigners is retained in the form of ceramic figurines. Such figures accentuate the obvious physiological differences of foreigners, not so much as caricatures, but rather to record and depict their 'foreign-ness'.

The Tang Dynasty (619-907AD) can be said to have been one of the most liberal periods of Chinese contact with the foreign world, and this figure of a Northeast-Indian youth playing a drum gives us an idea of how far and wide Chinese contact with the world outside reached.
Bibliographic references
  • Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-6, London : Royal Academy of Arts, 1935 2420
  • Two thousand years of Chinese ceramic figures : exhibition, London : Chas. F. Ince & Sons, 1947 no.35
  • Catalogue of an exhibition of the arts of the Tang Dynasty, London : Oriental Ceramic Society, 1955 no.16
Collection
Accession number
FE.153-1974

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Record createdJuly 5, 2007
Record URL
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