During the weekend, I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art located in Upper East side of NYC. The MET is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present. There is a particular piece of art attracted me. A pottery from Tang Dynasty of ancient China.
“SHE”, a “Figure of a Seated Court Lady”, was made during the 8 century in China, however, due to the large amount of pottery arts were produced during that period of time, the artist who made this classic piece of art is unknown. It’s a very charming pottery figure at the Imperial Court of the Tang Dynasty, of a young lady, meant to be buried with the deceased to keep him or her company, and to entertain them. Things like this were made actually in fairly large quantity, however, at the same time they were finished individually. Each one of them may have an individual character. This tells us about a particular period of time, the so-called Golden Age of the Tang Dynasty when China had constant and frequent contact with the rest of the world. And she is sitting on a drum-shaped stool, imported from South Asia, over the seas. The little puppy that she has is very likely imported from Europe. China was a very cosmopolitan culture, an age when a woman sat on the throne and ruled this vast empire. It was also a time of fashion. The hairdos that she had is one of the thirty-some hairdos of the time. At that time, people had a different concept of beauty. Particularly during that period of time, being skinny was considered poorly fed, it represents lack of money of the family, so having a full body was a representation of wealthy or royal at that period of time. She has a very round full face and she has a full figure. She’s in a private moment, probably was holding a mirror, trying to put on some more makeup. Her little puppy is playing with her slipper. You can tell that she’s very conscious of her beauty. It really shows the real life, you can feel there’s the life force moving around.
This classic pottery of the Tang Dynasty, “SHE” is a significant cultural heritage as an evidence that shows us the inspiration, combinations with different cultures, the exchanges between the ancient Chinese culture and the other cultures. It’s this exchange, not just materials, but also the different ideas, the different concepts. It also tells us about human nature, about this constant and eternal pursuit of beauty. The luster may go away as time goes by, but this pursuit will never fade.
