Look at a Tang dynasty sculpture of a Bactrian camel, which would originally have been placed in a tomb. Sculpted from clay and coated with different-colored lead glazes called sāncǎi in Chinese, camel sculptures were popular in Tang funerary art because these pack animals helped daring travelers, including monks and merchants, journey along the Silk Roads in the distant past.

Along with exploring the Silk Roads’ “ships of the desert,” we dive into sāncǎi 三彩, or tri-color ware, and explain how these distinctive colors were made and used, and what type of objects sancai was used to decorate.

Speaker: Dr. Cortney Chaffin Kim

CHAPTERS

0:00 Introduction

0:33 Dromedary and Bactrian camels

1:22 Bactrian camels and the Silk Roads

2:29 A closer look at a sancai camel in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Learn more

1. Check out all of our resources about The Silk Roads: https://www.artsq.org/the-silk-roads

2. Learn more about the Tang dynasty: https://www.artsq.org/tang-dynasty-china