International studio (80.1925)

inUGRHAClOnAL

t'aNG MUSICIANS Iti the Metropolitan Museum oj Art

very rare. He wears boots which accord w ith the ancient China has supplied many a motive to the

Muscovite or Turcoman costume. This type of modern dressmaker. A famous French designer

boot is seen more clearly on the four attendants not long ago sold a large Chinese collection which

who stand around the small soapstone sarcophagus had served its purpose as a source of some of his

(for the ashes of one cremated) belonging to the "original" ideas.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. These boots The importance which provision for future
are beautifully realistic and are the final touch of entertainment held in popular estimation is evi-
an especially artistic potter who suggested rcver- dent in the care which went into the making of
ence of attitude so appealingly. These four have such a lovely figure as the kneeling dancer (Tang)
the squarely set eyes and heavily chiseled cheeks and also the two groups of musicians of the same
which place them among the "barbarians from period, the seated girls to be seen in the Metro-
the West" who were so familiar in China. politan Museum, New York, and the masculine
The kind of accuracy that went into the mak- orchestra on horseback in the Pennsylvania Mu-
ing of different types is also evident in the dwarf scum, Philadelphia. The fine art of pleasing
T'ang court jester, the figure standing about three rarely finds a more exquisite expression than in
inches high. The prominent cheek bones, the for- these. The dancer is the personification of gra-
ward-drooping head, the crossed eyes, show a ciousness, the girl musicians take more than a
painstaking realism which hardly seems warranted perfunctory interest in practicing their art, they
in an object destined, it was hoped, for an eternal are delighted to amuse. The laughing rider-
rest in the grave. This figure, like the slender musicians are irresistibly merry. The tomb figures
court lady, who is also of the T'ang period, is in of the Chinese are, on the whole, more human,
unglazed terra-cotta of light color and fine tcx- more approachable and amiable than the ushabti
ture. The unglazed pieces are always more inter- of the Egyptians whose attitude is frequently
esting from the point of view of modeling as the characterized by a dreamy aloofness. They are
glaze has a tendency to destroy subtlety. The more personally concerned with the welfare of the
court lady is an unusually fine piece. Traces of occupant of the tomb than the Tanagra figurines
gold, coral red and pale green are left on her dress of the Greeks. The latter are not so much aloof
which argue that she must once have been re- as they are simply unconcerned. They do not
splendent, although as far as real beauty is con- disdain him but they are unaware of his existence,
cerned the creamy terra-cotta can hardly be The Chinese figures, however, give all their
improved upon. Her dress is interesting, for it interest to the departed; they are faithful with a
has a tunic, tight sleeves and a decollete neck line dog-like devotion. Their personnel provides an
which relate it to European costume. The same age-old comment on the elements of ideal corn-
low curving neck line is also seen in the little tight- panionship, for do not all these little earthenware
fitting bodice of one of the dancers, a high-waisted people represent either entertainment, service or
affair reminiscent of the Empress Josephine style, protection? They are the symbols of that devo-
The manner in which her scarf is knotted on her tion and respect accorded the dead by the Chinese
hip is probably lying in wait for some designer to and the final affirmation of a right to selection
make popular as a "new" feminine style, for which life had denied.

three hundred ten

january 1925