A Chinese Qing Dynasty terracotta figure of a female attendant standing on a domed circular base. The figure is holding up a plate with a bird in her raised left hand and has her right hand resting on her hip. She is dressed in navy and turquoise court robes with her hair done up with an orange-red hair band in the iconic high bun hairstyle. Her facial features are rendered delicately, with finely engraved eyes and eyebrows in black pigment, with lips and ears in orange-red pigment. Such figurines were made as burial objects and grave goods to be placed in the tomb, often as a larger group forming a precession for the deceased. Figures of this type are called mingqi in Chinese and usually depict servants, officials, soldiers, musicians, court attendants, dancers and, in the case of animals, horses, and Bactrian camels. Tomb figures like these were popular among people of high social status during the Qing Dynasty, as they are believed to accompany the tomb owner into their afterlife, waiting to fulfil the desires and needs of the deceased. Measurements: Circa H 23 cm x 5 cm Provenance: Private UK collection, brought from a West country collection in 1990’s.