Laughing drum-beating storyteller / comedian figurines
About the work
Imported from the workbook's Full reassessment sheet, revised 7 October 2026 (record ID 97). The assessment below is the workbook's comparative judgment under its stated criteria; source links and limits are retained.
Workbook assessment: Spread only
Date or witness: Eastern Han, 25–220 CE
Region: China, especially Sichuan
Workbook date-sort bounds: 25 CE to 220 CE; these bounds are not automatically invention or disappearance dates.
Description
Exaggerated laughing performers appear in tomb sculpture; the National Museum of China explicitly connects the type to humorous, farcical and satirical performance. Similar figurines recur across Eastern Han Sichuan tombs.
Evidence of adoption or transmission
Comedian figurines recur in Sichuan tombs, and the museum identifies storytelling as an entertainment enjoyed by ordinary people.
What remains uncertain
This supports popular performance and repeated occupational imagery, but not independent grassroots circulation of this specific visual form. Wealthy households also maintained entertainers; a figurine of a worker is not necessarily a worker's cultural expression.
Workbook revision note: Reassessed using grassroots criteria