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Exhibition Guide

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Tripod Vessel with Acrobats Balanced on Rim

  • Audio

    Tripod Vessel with Acrobats: A conversation with an Acrobat

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  • Audio

    A conversation with a Conservator

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Additional Images

Shanghai acrobats balancing like the figures on this artwork. Photo by Jeremy Breningstall.

Art Object Info

Troupes of acrobats, dancers, jugglers, and musicians traveled the countryside at the time this object was made, bringing entertainment to large wealthy estates in rural areas. In a manner characteristic of the best Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) clay mortuary figures, the energetic, young contortionists on this vessel seem frozen in action. The girls, identifiable by their hairstyle, might represent immortals making merry at the court of the Daoist Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu). As popular Daoism and a cult of immortality spread widely during the 2nd century, some tombs contained images of Daoist deities and inhabitants of the afterlife. The Queen Mother of the West and the immortals in her paradise often engaged in human activities and were popular figures in tomb decoration and furnishings of the period.

 

Medium:
Earthenware with unfired pigments over slip
Size:
H: 8'
W: 5.75'
D: 5'
Date:
c. 200
Julius Levy Memorial Fund BMA 1988.2

Art Object Info

Troupes of acrobats, dancers, jugglers, and musicians traveled the countryside at the time this object was made, bringing entertainment to large wealthy estates in rural areas. In a manner characteristic of the best Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) clay mortuary figures, the energetic, young contortionists on this vessel seem frozen in action. The girls, identifiable by their hairstyle, might represent immortals making merry at the court of the Daoist Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu). As popular Daoism and a cult of immortality spread widely during the 2nd century, some tombs contained images of Daoist deities and inhabitants of the afterlife. The Queen Mother of the West and the immortals in her paradise often engaged in human activities and were popular figures in tomb decoration and furnishings of the period.

 

Medium:
Earthenware with unfired pigments over slip
Size:
L: 5'
W: 5.75'
H: 8'
Date:
c. 200
Julius Levy Memorial Fund BMA 1988.2