CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

I/O
A group of five painted pottery hunting figures
Height 33 (13) -35.5 (14)
Tang Dynasty, early eighth century CE
From the tomb of Yu Yin and Princess Jinxiang,
Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
Xi'an Municipal Institute of Archaeology
and Preservation of Cultural Relics,
Shaanxi Province
Washington only
A fascination with capturing or exaggerating detail
is characteristic of Tang funerary sculpture. Depictions
of foreigners in particular often verge on
caricature, an approach clearly reflected in the
three foreign men in this group of hunters dressed
in exotic costumes and head gear 1 ; their large
noses, bulging eyes, heavy beards, and brutish musculature
suggests that the Chinese found these
people somewhat inferior. The unmistakably Chinese
women who complete the hunting group,
on the other hand, have regular features, and their
hunting dress suggests a more sober style.
Hunting and the hunting styles of foreign peoples
(including their use of exotic animals) were of
particular interest to the leisured Tang aristocracy.
Four of the figures (the three men and one of the
women) in this group carry animals that would have
been used in the hunt. In front of his saddle, one of
the men cradles a small, wiry dog, ideal for pursuing
smaller game in the open lands west of Xi'an. The
second man holds a falcon on his arm, reflecting
a common practice of the Tang aristocracy, which
used these raptors to capture small animals and
birds. A collared, spotted cat (probably a cheetah)
sits on a thick, presumably protective pad on the
rump of the third male hunter's horse. Such felines
(not native to China) were trained as hunting animals
in parts of western Asia and must have been
imported along with their foreign handlers.
Hunting was a sport of both men and women.
The two women portrayed in this set of figures are
obviously active participants in the hunt: one carries
the body of a captured deer on her horse, while
an alert lynx (like the cheetah, used as a hunting
animal) accompanies the other female hunter. Their
hair arranged in tight, practical buns, both women
are dressed for the occasion in close-fitting tunics
and trousers and thickly padded belts. Their participation
in the hunt and their clearly foreign
associates are an indication of the level of physical
activity and relative freedom permitted to women
during the Tang dynasty.
492 EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA