Our group focused on an ancient Chinese tomb figure, a small sculpture of a lady in long striped dress. While this figure’s voyage from the other side of Earth to Northfield might neither be peaceful nor morally justifiable, the opportunity to model such an artifact does make me excited.
On first sight, the process of modelling an object is strikingly similar with the process of watching it in museums, first we look at it in all directions to not miss the detail, and then our brain (computer, in the modelling case) process it into a 3D figure. However, there still are some differences between the two seemingly similar processes. When we are actually taking pictures from all directions, we paid attention to many more details of the lady figure and had a much deeper understanding of the physical structure. For example, the black color used in the dress is different from that the artist used to color her hair, and the figure is slightly leaning as opposed to standing straight. These are the details that would otherwise be ignored if we did not thoroughly take photos from all directions.
This experience does make me want to probe deeper into Tang dynasty women figures. I was long under the impression that Tang people preferred women to be “chubbier” rather than having a thin body like the one we took a photo of. So, this figure might have been influenced by the Arabic, Persian, or Tibetan culture, which was very influential to China during the Tang dynasty. Or it might simply be from a non-mainstream Chinese region by the time, for example Northern Vietnam.
In conclusion, this experience has been a very educational and enjoyable one, I have not only learned a great technical solution to present artifacts, but a whole new technique of communicating with the audience.
6 thoughts on “modelling ancient lady figure”
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It’s nice to see that your takeaway was so open-minded. This was definitely a frustrating activity for many (myself included), but that fact that you were able to use the experience to expand upon your previous knowledge is a testament to both your own scholarly instincts and the limitless potential this technology provides. Well done!
I think it’s super cool that you thought about this artifact from a cultural perspective, which adds another interesting level of detail to this project. I don’t have the knowledge to make that kind of take away, or ask those kinds of questions, but you helped me place this object into a cultural context, which expanded my interest, and validates the importance of 3D modeling.
Like Griffin said, I think your reflection this from a cultural perspective is very cool to see, and I like how you incorporated your knowledge of ancient china to better show the stories that these figures can tell. I had absolutely no idea about the cultural preferences of the time, and I’m thankful that you shared those insights with a wider audience.
I agree that we could get a much more comprehensive understanding of the physical structure of the object when we took pictures from different angles, and we would often discover something new about it. I think your reflection on the cultural perspective of the figure is really cool. I didn’t know there are stories about the connections between various cultures behind this object.
My group also worked on a similar object. Although I found the process of taking photos to have some similarities to just viewing, I did not enjoy it as much. Though I noticed more details and viewed the object from multiple angles, it was all in the context of taking photos rather than simply viewing the object.
Really cool to hear you share so much about the Tang dynasty and some of the possible roots we could begin to trace for this statuette. I was among those who didn’t think the process of creating a 3D model was similar to viewing the object in a museum, so I appreciated hearing the similarities you drew between the two. It would have been great to see a picture of the figure in your post while reading, but mine was fairly similar so I’m able to visualize the color differences and slight lean to one side. Great post!