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Kneeling Warrior

5th–3rd century BC
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
This warrior sports distinctive headgear that resembles a type fashionable in ancient Greece and Rome. The figure was recovered in the far northwest of China at a site linked to nomadic peoples, perhaps the Scythians, who dwelled in that region from the fifth to third century B.C. Although crudely cast, the figure’s well-modeled shoulders, arms, and collarbones reveal an awareness of human anatomy—a characteristic of the Hellenistic sculpture that Alexander the Great introduced into Central Asia in the fourth century B.C. Nomadic peoples helped transmit this influence to their Chinese neighbors.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 战国晚期 青铜蹲跪武士俑
  • Title: Kneeling Warrior
  • Date: 5th–3rd century BC
  • Culture: China or Central Asia
  • Medium: Bronze
  • Dimensions: H. 15 3/4 in. (40 cm); W. 5 1/8 in. (13 cm); D. 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Lent by Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art