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Attendant holding a platter
Three Kingdoms, Shu (221–263)
Earthenware
H. 18 1/8 in. (46 cm)
Excavated at Tujing, Zhongxian, Sichuan Province, 1981
Sichuan Provincial Museum
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This female attendant, holding in one hand a platter with cups and what looks like a dish of fruit and, in the other hand, a disk (perhaps a mirror), is one of a large number of pottery figures found in chamber tombs that were cut into the cliff surface on the banks of a tributary of the Yangzi River in eastern Sichuan. Judging by the coins and objects found in the tombs, they could be attributed to the state of Shu (221–263) in the period of the Three Kingdoms. The sculptural style of the figures, of which the present example is representative, is not unlike what is found at sites in other parts of China from the same period. What distinguishes the Sichuan sculpture is the unusual headgear of the female figures, which hints at early contacts with India where similar floral adornments are known.
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