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Asian Art
Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
Dancer
7th century CE
Earthenware, white slip with traces of pigment
11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm)
University Purchase
1939.475
This young dancer was most likely part of a larger group of tomb figures that included other performers and musicians. Her dress, consisting of a long skirt in alternating colors and a long-sleeved blouse under a jacket, was very fashionable in China in the seventh century C.E.—as well as in Korea and Japan.
Geography:
China
Status:
On view
Culture:
Chinese
Period:
Tang dynasty (618–907 C.E.)
Classification:
Sculpture
Provenance:
Yamanka & Co., New York; purchased in 1939 by the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography:
Zauho Kankokai, Sekai toji zenshu, 16 vols. (Tokyo: Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 1955–58), vol. 9, pp. 214 and 238, no. 8, figs. 134 and 180.
Mimi Gardner Gates, The Communion of Scholars: Chinese Art at Yale, exh. cat. (New York: China House Gallery, 1982), 12, 52–53, no. 18, ill.
Handbook of the Collections, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), 288, ill.
Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
