CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

146
Jade dancing figure
Height 3.5 (i 3 / 8 ), width 3.5 (lYs), depth i.o (Ys)
Western Han Dynasty, second century BCE
From the tomb of the King of Nanyue at Xianggang,
Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
The Museum of the Western Han Tomb of the
Nanyue King, Guangzhou, Guandong Province
This tiny carved figure, 1 was found in the western
chamber of the tomb, together with small gaming
pieces, glass beads, and the remains of a lacquer
box. While the piercing suggests that the figure was
used as a bead pendant assemblage, it was not
located near pieces that would have composed a
pendant set and seems to have been kept inside a
box with the other trinkets. Several other dancing
figures were found in other chambers of the tomb.
Her hair coiled in a side bun, the dancer holds
one arm behind her tilted head; the long, hanging
sleeve of her robe falls behind her back. The other
arm hangs downward, and the sleeve sweeps out
in a generous hooked curve. The woman's body is
slightly twisted and sharply bent: she appears to
be rising from a kneeling position, her feet covered
by her robe. Vigorous grooving delineates the twisting
flow of her long sleeves, and the woman's belt,
her crossed bodice, and her features — eyes, nose,
and mouth — are indicated by incised lines.
Jade figures of dancing women with long sleeves
seem to have been a speciality of the Western Han
period. The best known examples are a pair of
dancers and two single figures in the Freer Gallery
of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington. The
paired figures have been reconstructed as components
of a pendant set that includes two dragon
426 EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA