A Pair of Pottery Sleeve-Tossing Dancers

Western Han Dynasty, China, 206 BCE–220 CE Pair of grey terracotta dancer figures created in the most elegant style associated with Han Dynasty funerary art. The elongated bodies and raised sleeves suggest elegant court performances and ceremonial entertainment popular within Han aristocratic culture. Figures of this type were commonly produced as mingqi burial objects and placed within tombs to provide music, dance, and companionship for the deceased in the afterlife. Their simplified sculptural forms and weathered grey surfaces reflect the restrained aesthetic characteristic of early Chinese burial pottery. Their expression is one of grace and austere beauty.