Since the Northern Dynasty, the combination of burial figurines has become increasingly fixed, and the figurine group can be roughly divided into three combinations: one is the town tomb figurine, including two town tomb beasts (one for human faces, one for the animal face) and two tall town tomb figurines in the shape of shield-armored warriors; one is the travel honor guard, including the drumming band on horseback, the armor riding equipment, the walking subordinate and honor guards, and the soldiers carrying arrows, as well as saddle horses, ox carts, donkeys and camels; the other is the domestic slaves, including male servants and maids with or without objects, song, dance and band, There are also maids squatting in the kitchen, as well as models of wells, mortars, mills, stoves, etc.
The pottery figurines of the early Northern Dynasty retained a strong regional and ethnic characteristics, with clumsy shapes, portraits with only large outlines, lack of detailed depictions, and thick limbs and incongruous proportions. The armor-clad town tomb figurines have a hideous face, but their heads are generally short and out of proportion. In addition to the traditional kurama and ox carts, images of camels and Bactrian camels appear, reflecting the characteristics of nomadic life.
The pottery figurines of the late Northern Dynasty are finely made, and the appearance and posture are changed from slender and slender to wide and round, and the shaping of animals in this period is the most evocative, especially cattle, horses and camels, with realistic and interesting postures, which is a rare masterpiece of the Northern Dynasty. The figurines of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties are found to be fewer, with rougher shapes and rounded faces, from which we can see the origin of the round and abundant statues of the Sui Dynasty. Ancient figurines are an important part of ancient Chinese Ming artifacts, because the use of figurines is to enable the deceased to continue to live as before they were alive, so the figurines are truly loaded with various information of ancient society, which is of great significance for the study of ancient public opinion systems, military arrangements, lifestyles and even cultural exchanges between China and the West. Moreover, it makes up for the major shortcomings in the variety and integrity of ground sculpture in the same period, outlines the context of the development of ancient sculpture art and the trajectory of the changes in aesthetic habits of successive dynasties, and becomes an indispensable precious physical material for understanding the history of ancient Chinese sculpture art.
The earliest figurines are found in the tomb of the Shang Dynasty royal family in the Yin Ruins of Anyang, where the hands were tied together with martyrdom. By the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, social progress ended the era of human martyrdom, and the burial figurines that replaced the old customs of human martyrdom flourished. After the Song Dynasty, funeral customs changed, especially the prevalence of burning paper ming utensils in funerals, and the use of figurines decreased sharply, and it disappeared in the early Qing Dynasty.
Although the history of the figurine is over, the magnificent colors it has smeared on the history of Chinese sculpture are as epic as eternal.
Tao red robe male figurine (height 56 cm, width 16 cm): the male figurine wears a small crown, eyebrows, eyes, beard are painted in ink, the expression is quiet, wearing a red robe, white ribbon around the waist, and black round flat shoes on the feet. The colors are bright, the portrayal is meticulous, the bones are clear, and the shape is vivid and realistic. It is an outstanding work of the Northern Dynasty color figurines.
Tao Mingguang armored samurai figurines (height 49 cm, width 13 cm, thickness 10 cm): Is a town tomb samurai figurine. He wears a helmet on his head, bright armor, pants at the waist, and boots on his feet. The left hand presses the long shield of the animal face, and the right hand holds the object on the side, and the grip is lost. This figurine is large in size and has a powerful image, showing the realistic style of the Northern Dynasty figurines
Terracotta Figurine (height 29 cm, width 9.8 cm): Male attendant. Head with black beanie, plump face, white, thin eyebrows, long eyes, vermilion lips. The eyebrows are painted in ink and have whiskers on the upper part of the mouth and under the jaw. This kind of clay figurine is commonly found in the Nanjing area of the lower Reaches of the Yangtze River and is a more typical southern style.
43 cm tall and 12 cm wide This figurine represents the image of a young girl from a northern nomad. The girl's hammerhead is disced on the sides of the ears, and the red dots decorated on the sides of the forehead and the front of the bun represent the ornaments on the hair, and the hairstyle is unique. Willow eyebrows are thin-eyed, the corners of the mouth are decorated with red dots, the lower part of the cheeks and the upper and lower parts of the lips are decorated with black dots, the nose is high, the face is smiling, and the lively and cheerful image is about to come out. The maiden's costumes are derived from the nomadic people of northern China, which are light and practical, and are easy to ride and shoot. From the 3rd to the 5th century AD, the period when China's agricultural culture with the Han nationality as the main body collided with the nomadic cultural exchanges of the northern ethnic groups, and this figurine is the expression of the convergence and integration of the two civilizations.
Indigo warriors Height 23 cm, width 6 cm This group of honor guards is composed of eight pieces of pottery figurines, and the costumes and functions of the figurines are different, which is a more typical combination at that time. In this group of figurines, there are those who wear hoods and wide-sleeved jackets, those who wear long clothes and pants, those who wear lapels and long-necked coats with heads and small crowns, reflecting the diverse and colorful costume culture at that time. At the same time, because the objects they hold reflect their different identities, there are warrior figurines holding long instruments with their hands on their chests, attendant figurines supported with one hand on their shoulders, bow and arrow figurines with bows and arrows (bows and arrows no longer exist), and literary figurines with their hands hidden in their sleeves and standing solemnly on their chests.
Clay camel figurines height 25 cm, length 23 cm weak, slightly childish. Camels appeared more often in the tombs of the late Northern Dynasty as a kind of clay figurine, which was inseparable from the increasingly close communication between the East and the West at that time. The shape of the camel became very plump by the Tang Dynasty, and the decoration was much more complicated.
The clay saddle horse figurines painted in pancres are 29 cm high and 36 cm long for realistic war horse images. The horse's head has three straps, all made of mud strips and glued to the horse. Under the saddle, there are colored felt pads on both sides of the horse's belly, and the felt pads are decorated with red color paintings, which are imitation brocade patterns, mainly geometric patterns, and bright colors. The horse's head , upper neck and tail are painted with reddish-brown manes.
Clay elephant figurine Length 39 cm, width 36 cm : clay gray pottery, loose texture. A slave elephant wears a small pointed hat, sits on the back of the elephant with its legs bent, and drives the elephant, and the proportion of the elephant to the human is equal. The obedience of the elephant reflects the leisurely self-sufficiency of the elephant slave. This elephant slave figurine is shaped as a whole in harmony and nature, clumsy and ingenious.
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