THREE MUSICIANS
China, Province of Sichuan
Eastern Han dynasty (25-220)
Pottery, H. 60 cm

presented in the museums all over the world, have you ever noticed how many of them were smiling? Certainly the minqi are pieces made for celebrating the luxury life of the dead, so that they are not related to a joyful event. Thus the tumbs are decorated with grim guardians who must drive away demons or malicious humans, delightful female players with their celestial smile, elegant horsemen and acrobatic polo players, severe soldiers who must protect the dead soul for eternity. But only for a short period, and only in the Sichuan province, during the Eastern Han dynasty, figures of wordly subject were manufactured (musicians, dancers, food sellers), whose simple sight was sufficient to make us very glad. These are not figures of that sophisticated aristocrated world so typical of most of minqi, but persons of real life, of real people, showing the smile and the levity of the festive moments. Musicians, dancers and singers wearing elegant vests and flat hats on the head, like this “trio”, made of two players of wind and stringed instruments and of a lady singer wearing the typical chrysanthemum flower on the head, that marks all the female artists. All the three musicians have a contagious smile.