Harpist (mid-700s): Art, History and Details

Harpist (mid-700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

After four centuries of political turmoil and social disorder, a reunited China during the first half of the Tang Dynasty (618–906) was an age of unprecedented prosperity and vitality. Figurines placed in Tang tombs give a vivid glimpse of everyday life. The elegant earthenware ladies in various hairstyles, costumes, and activities suggest the fashions of the time. This lady musician is seated on a circular plinth, playing a harp balanced on her right thigh. The plump face has well-defined features, with straight nose, pursed lips, and round cheeks. Her hair is drawn into a coiled chignon over the forehead. A long, high-waisted robe flows down to her shoes' upturned tips.

Object facts

• Title: Harpist
• Date: mid-700s
• Culture: North China, Tang dynasty (618-907)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: glazed earthenware
• Dimensions: Overall: 32.1 cm (12 5/8 in.)
• Collection: China - Tang Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1931.450

A detail from the museum

The angular harp, like the one held by this musician, occupied a prominent position in the court orchestras by the mid-eighth century.

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Sirén, Osvald. :Stilentwicklung der Chinesischen Grabfguren." Wiener Beitrage in Kunst and Kultur Asiens, Band VI, 1931.
• Hollis, Howard C. “A T’ang Dynasty Tomb Figure.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 19, no. 1 (January 1932): 7–8 and 2.
• Cox, Warren E. The Book of Pottery and Porcelain. New York: L. Lee and Shepard Co.; distributed by Crown Publishers, 1944.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.