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Carved wooden dancer sculpture from Western Xia Dynasty
Updated: May 12, 2025
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This carved wooden sculpture from the Western Xia Dynasty (1038-1227) depicts a female dancer. With a tiara on her head, a graceful twist of the body and an object held in her left hand, she seems to dance before our eyes – right leg folded and left poised on a lotus base.
Bare-chested but draped in a flowing scarf and short skirt, the sculpture – decorated with pigments and gold foil – the form and posture beautifully echo the influence of esoteric Buddhism.
Unearthed in 1990 at Hongfo Pagoda in Helan county, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, the sculpture is now housed at the Xixia Museum in Yinchuan.
