1-234-331 - The Museum of East Asian Art/Heritage Images

Painted pottery dancing figure, Han dynasty, China, 206 BC-20 AD. Figure with one arm in the s-shaped pose of a dancer. The long robe is painted an orange- brown colour, the hat painted black and the face and exposed hand painted white, all in unfired pigments with the facial features in reserve. The place where the other arm would have been shows that the piece was made as a one-armed figure cleanly cut off at the shoulder. It is probable that the figure was so made that it was intended to fit into another dancing figure, the intentionally missing arm being excised to accomodate the two figures dancing closely together.