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Tomb Figurines, Buried Mystery

Tang Tri-colour Glaze Pottery, the Last Golden Age

In 589 A.D., the Sui Dynasty united China.

Twenty-nine years later, the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) was established, ushering in one of the most prosperous periods in China's history.

This color-painted figurine was uncovered in a cave near Qianling, the mausoleum of the most legendary woman in China's history -- Wu Zetian (624-705 A.D.), the only empress in China's history. These colored figurines show the empress's preference for bright colors like gold, white and green.

In the Tang Dynasty, with the development of porcelain making skills, colored figurines replaced the comparatively less delicate pottery figurines.

But they were glossed over by another precious artwork - Tang Tri-colored Glazed Pottery, or Tang San Cai, which was named after the reddish brown, green and yellow glazes applied to the earthenware body.

Even today, the Tang Dynasty is still a legendary paradise for many Chinese people. Along with the fall of the dynasty, the tomb figurines came to a decline and finally disappeared in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Yet, the glamour of those artworks is still captivating.