ART. 16 CAVES OE SZECHWAN" PEOVINCE, CHINA GRAHAM 9 



a fish which he is about to prepare for food. (PL 5, &/ No. 345078.) 

 In these figurines servants invariably wear simple hats ; some of them 

 have smiling countenances. (PI. 8, a, c.) 



Another instructive figure is that of a seated man (the head is 

 missing) playing a flute. (PI. 6; No. 341342.) That this was not 

 the only musical instrument known to the early Chinese is evidenced 

 by a second fragment which shows a hand strumming a lute. (PI. 

 o, a; No. 342200.) The writer saw one lute of this kind in Suifu 

 in 1930 and there are several on exhibition in the Imperial Museums 

 at Peiping. 



That the builders of the Szechwan caves were devotees of the 

 theater is at least suggested by one figure, evidently that of a clown 

 or a comedian. (PI. 7, 6/ No. 345077.) The left eye is half closed, 

 while the other is wide open. The face is contorted; the mouth is 

 drawn out of shape and the tongue protrudes. A bit of plaster 

 adheres above the right eye, but we find nothing to indicate that 

 the entire face was whitened. On the Chinese stage to-day it is 

 customary for clowns or fun makers to whiten themselves around 

 the eyes, and one is led to wonder if the same custom prevailed in 

 Szechwan nearly 2,000 years ago. 



A second possible stage figure is the niao yah character, a strange 

 human being having large tusks and a long tongue hanging down 

 his chest. (PI. 7, c: No. 341403.) The Chinese say that this char- 

 acter occurs frequently in local theatricals ; that he is very fierce, and 

 that he has been known on the Chinese stage for hundreds if not 

 thousands of years. 



Chinese history and literature contain much evidence that the 

 inhabitants of the middle kingdom admired beautiful women. And 

 we may assume that the people who constructed the Szechwan caves 

 were equally discerning, for the cave artifacts include many frag- 

 ments of female figurines. A number of heads in our collection show 

 undeniable beauty and unquestioned skill on the part of the artist. 

 Some of these heads wear earrings; others have jewels or similar 

 ornaments on their hats, just above the forehead. In most instances, 

 the features are rather dimly indicated, but there is a smile in each 

 case and the eyes and nose are distinctly Mongolian. In this they 

 resemble present-day Chinese women, and according to Chinese 

 standards at least, both grace and beauty are recognized in the fig- 

 ures. All of them portray slender women. (PL 7, a, No. 341393; 

 pi. 8, 6, No. 342179; pL 9, No. 341336.) 



A possible exception to this latter statement is the remarkable 

 little head shown in Figure 14 (No. 342199). Like the others, it was 

 molded; unlike the others, it is solid. It is small, measuring only 

 1% by li/i inches. The nose is wide, thick, and low; the chin is 



