Ha-Ha Han

You three of earthenware, entombed under glass at the Milwaukee Art Museum, clearly you are not the Three Stooges of American fame, however, is was your job to deliver laughs while drumming or doing the Sichuan shuffle during the eastern Han dynasty. It is writ that you were not to give offense lest the Emperor take issue. Twas a fine line you walked, plus you needed to know a few good tales and be able to dance and drum. The Three Stooges and you have much in common.

The Baumgartner Gallery is (did you know?) the very place where, a few years ago during a martini-fueled event, a fool or two tried scaling the likes of the Standing Woman. It didn’t get many laughs.

The three of you are round and jolly (and from the Conley-Ting collection), are so unlike the scowling scary faces found on Chinese temples. Squatting Drummer, Storyteller, and Squatting Drummer with Arm and Leg Extended, it was you who brought smiles to courtly faces, and it’s nice to know earthenware replicas of you ended up in various tombs, for who wants an Afterlife devoid of laughs!

With your chests and bellies exposed and your trousers slung low, only the sourest of Emperors would fail to laugh. You come from a long line of fools, or so it is writ, that China has “the longest, richest, and most thoroughly documented history of court jesters.” Fools like you, those with monikers like “Twisty Pole,” “Baldy Chunyu,” “Moving Bucket” and “Newly Polished Mirror,” were the “brightest stars in the jester firmament.”

A jester (that’s you, though there is no word in Chinese to define you) could temper a ruler’s excesses, advise Emperors to keep their shirts on during tough Han times, or among the braver of you, suggest that “the Emperor has no clothes.”

Apparently, you were more often rewarded than beheaded.

On this sunny day, there are many visitors to MAM’s Summer of China exhibition, but most of them pass you by.

I say, ha ha, the laugh’s on them.

Visitors can take a closer look at The Entertainers as part of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Summer of China exhibition this weekend while enjoying the Chinese Cultural Fest, July 23-24. Presented by the Milwaukee Chinese Cultural Community Center, the two-day festival features traditional Chinese folk music, dance, acrobatics and much more. The festival is free with regular museum admission. For more information, click here.