This graceful woman is a tomb figure from the Tang Dynasty of early China. She has a hand-painted and low-fired white clay body, instead of the style that prevailed a little later: a more sumptuous, highly glazed, and colorful approach. Our dancer has sufferd some breakage of her extravagant appendages, including her little feet that just tip out from underneath her robe. The figuring was placed in the tomb to dance away the ages and entertain the deceased. 

This came to us from Percy Watson, Class of 1903, who was a medical missionary in China. He often sent boxes of medical implements and art to Carleton. Because of his gifts, we have some high quality ancient Asian objects in our collection.