TANG DYNASTY, 8TH CENTURY

This lively figure of a tribute bearer is depicted wearing foreign dress, with the open coat with wide lapels and tight sleeves commonly found in Tang pottery sculpture. The hat, however, is of an unusual form, identified by Ezekiel Schloss as belonging to a type worn by Uighur Turks, and illustrated in a line drawing by Schloss in Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture from Han through T'ang, Vol. I, Stamford, 1977, p. 157, fig. 92. In place of the small bird usually found perched on the hand, as seen on the similar sancai-glazed pottery figure illustrated p. 43, fig. 8, the current figure presents a small covered box.