Cat 291: Figure of a man

Human figures like this and cat. no. 290 were buried with the dead at Astana intended to stand in or serve the dead in the underworld. They are ingeniously constructed with clay bodies over a wooden core, sometimes with arms made of a paper core and wooden legs

Wood, clay, paper and grass fibre with ink and pigments
National Museum, New Delhi, 2003/6/1507 (Ast.iii.4.073)