Figure, probably Khotanese

This walking figure holds a hollow tube while grasping his hip. He wears a long cloth headdress held by a headband, draped stole and skirt, but nothing to identify occupation or purpose.

There are no other gilt bronze figures of this type known at this time. However, a haloed horseman whose garb, headdress, boots, and scarf are close in style to those of this figure is depicted on a painted wooden panel from Dandan Uilik, Khotan, ascribed to about the seventh century, and it is known that paintings from Khotan were copied by Chinese craftsmen of the seventh century in Chang'an. Another Khotanese, a ceramic youth with one hand raised and one hand grasping a hip belt, is illustrated by Mahler. Mingqi traders from the Near East and Central Asia shown walking and holding objects in upraised hands can be seen in the Schloss Collection and the Fujii Yurinkan. While the DandanUilik panel and Mahler's figure suggest the Khotanese lineage of this figure, the Schloss and Yurinkan examples indicate that he might be a trader who had come to China to sell his wares.