Ceramic Figurine

386

534

23.2

7.8

N/A

N/A

5.5

HKU.C.1959.0494

The warrior figurine was made of ceramic material with pink-orange pigment. Due to the imperfect preservation condition, the pigment wore completely for the regions of the head and lower body with a little coating left on the main body (clothes and arms), revealing the underlying original tone of ceramic material. For maintaining the integrity of the figurine, soil and mud residues that imbedded into the figurine have not been removed completely. The figurine was made with a bulky middle part, moderately large bottom part and relatively thin upper part while its head was made separately and fitted into the body afterwards. The not perfectly fixed head makes the head wobbling when handing it. The figurine shows the posture of a man standing still facing right to the front with one arm and both legs hang down naturally. It right forearm is missing due to unknown reason, leaving a hole that allows us to look into the hollow interior of its body from the lateral view. The missing right hand should be holding something originally as suggested by the staff of HKU Art Museum.

This kind of figurine is commonly found in the tombs of officials in ancient China. It is believed that the figurines are warrior attendants that guarding the security of the tomb and the afterlife of the master of the tomb. It reveals the general belief in the afterlife of ancient Chinese. The larger the size of the figurines, the higher the social status of the tomb’s occupant. As supported by figurines dug up from tombs, a typical warrior figurine should be holding a shield and weapon on hand. Therefore, the missing part of our figurine should be a weapon or shield beside the confirmed forearm.