Cultural Relic: Clay Image of a Pregnant Woman

Copyright: A Journey into China’s Antiquity– Chinese History in Cultural Relics, Blossom Press

You could find the Chinese Venus de Milo in Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province in northeast China.

Quite a few images like this one were discovered at the same time in the base of a circular stone sacrificial altar of Hongshan origin.

All images had protruding bellies and large buttocks, conspicuous features of pregnant women. These clay figurines are about 5-6.8 cm tall, while this picture one is about 7.8 cm tall and found in 1982.

Such images obviously were used in sacrifices to “goddesses” to pray for fertility and prolificness.