Drum-beating, Talking and Singing Figurine

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Drum-beating, Talking and Singing Figurine is unearthed from cliff tomb on Tianjiong Mountain in Chengdu, Sichuan. It is representative of pottery sculptures of the Han Dynasty. It portrays the highlights of an old talking and singing artist at the time of performance. Figurine body used to be colorfully painted, which is mottled due to long history. Exposed grey pottery clay seems simple and plain. This artwork shows simple shape without too many details, but adds the finishing touch. So old talking and singing artist is charmingly naive and very kind. This joyful dancing artist seems to tell a moving story, who takes smooth action, devotes to performance and seem to jump up!

Facial expression

This old talking and singing artist has vivid facial expression. He has broad face, high cheekbone, narrow eyes and extending mouth, and seems joyful and excited. Due to great distortion of facial features, wrinkles on forehead are deeper and eye-catching. These largely highlight dramatic facial expression, portray this artist true to life and prove the performance talent incisively.

Talking and singing artists in the Han Dynasty

“Talking and singing” is also known as “shuoshu” in China, which is a popular folk artistic form with a long history. As early as in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, “talking and singing” prevailed. In the Han Dynasty, talking and singing artists ctively performed. They went to urban and rural areas to perform and tell many interesting folklores and stories of gods and devils, who were highly welcomed.

Sculptures of the Han Dynasty

Sculptures of the Han Dynasty have distinct style. They haves impleand pure shape, and emphasize expression of connotations rather than pay attention to all aspects. The themes of sculptures of the Han Dynasty mainly focus on the reality, which cover a lot of contents.

Figurine

Figurine was used as funeral object. It is often made of wood, pottery and stone. The superstitious ancients believed the soul of the deceased go to another world. So ancient tombs keep many objects for daily life. The ancients used “fifi gurines” to represent their servants, on the hope of enjoying the same happy life as that in this life.