I guess these don’t really count as action figures, they’re really figurines, since they’re non-poseable, but I’m a simple, simple man. What matters is that they were collectible, and in this case the the design seems totally proto-anime. The action figure or figurine is possibly one of man’s oldest art forms, and it’s no coincidence that they remain so freakishly popular today, even if our mythological canon has mutated from the Venus of Willendorf to Sgt. Slaughter.
This pair of Chinese 5th-6th century earthenware figurines, from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, really capture one of my favourite museum moments - discovering that something seemingly new and fresh is really ancient and established - plus ça change and all that, you know. You could scan them with a laser, pump them out in vinyl, have them painted in China (again…) and drop them onto the shelves at your local Giant Robot and no one would know they weren’t designed yesterday.
Here’s a rear view for reference, and here’s a shot of the label.
Technorati Tags: art, Chinese Art, Sui Dynasty, figurine, ceramic, scuplture, Nelson-Atkins, earthenware
