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Seated Female Musician Playing a Paixiao

Artwork Tombstone
ArtistUnknown
CultureChinese
TitleSeated Female Musician Playing a Paixiao
Date7th–early 10th century
MediumEarthenware and traces of pigment
DimensionsOverall: 7 x 4 1/2 x 4 in. (17.8 x 11.4 x 10.2 cm)
Credit LineEskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number62.12B
This artwork is currently on view.
Seated female holding a paixiao or pan pipes up to her lips. Her hair, parted in the middle, is swept up into bunches on top of her head.

Seated female holding a paixiao or pan pipes up to her lips. Her hair, parted in the middle, is swept up into bunches on top of her head.

Little clay figures such as this young woman playing a pan pipe would have been part of a larger set of musicians placed in a tomb to bring enjoyment to the deceased in the afterlife. See 62.12A for a similar figure probably from the the same set.

Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Seated Female Musician Playing a Paixiao | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=62.12B