The first thing you notice is the pose: About 11 inches tall, he sits with his right leg bent inward as though riding sidesaddle, his upper body torqued, his left leg extended. Then you see the face, most of which is hidden by a cloth that drapes across the bridge of a rather prominent nose, revealing only thick, arched eyebrows and eyes that stare down with fierce intensity.

　　首先你注意到的是他的姿態(tài)：他高約11英寸（28厘米），呈坐姿，右腿內(nèi)彎，就像坐在橫座馬鞍上一樣，上半身扭曲，左腿伸展。然后你才會(huì)關(guān)注他的面部：他高高的鼻梁上蒙著一塊面巾，把臉的大部分遮擋起來，只露出濃濃的彎眉，雙眼俯視下方，眼神異常專注。

　　Made in China during the latter part of the eighth century, this unusual Tang dynasty burial figure today sits on a shelf in the Museo di Arte Orientale (MAO) of Turin, Italy, exuding as much mystery as he does energy. To date, nobody can say exactly who or what he is -- his clothes, his pose, his expression don't add up. Even his manufacture is atypical: While almost all other known burial statuettes are hollow and cast in molds, this one is solid clay and appears to have been sculpted by hand.

　　Fondazione Torino Musei研究學(xué)者提出了各種假說，想弄清楚這尊現(xiàn)藏于意大利都靈東方藝術(shù)博物館的唐俑的真實(shí)身份。這尊與眾不同的唐俑誕生于公元八世紀(jì)后葉的中國，現(xiàn)收藏于意大利都靈(Turin)的東方藝術(shù)博物館(Museo di Arte Orientale, MAO)。他活靈活現(xiàn)，渾身上下散發(fā)著神秘的氣息。直到今天，依然沒人能夠準(zhǔn)確說出其身份和職業(yè)──各種假設(shè)都無法完全解釋他為何是這樣的衣著、姿態(tài)和表情。甚至其制作工藝也是那么地與眾不同：目前所知的小型墓俑幾乎都是內(nèi)部中空、用模子制成的；但這尊墓俑是實(shí)心的粘土材質(zhì)，而且似乎是手工雕刻而成的。

　　For the moment, MAO has him down as “a Persian riding a camel or a horse,” says Marco Guglielminotti Trivel, MAO's curator of East Asian art. And this is plausible enough. One among 500 ancient Chinese works that the Agnelli Foundation donated to the museum, the figure's eyes are rounded, his nose aquiline, and though most figurines show a male rider straddling his mount, sidesaddle is not unheard of. The raised fists, Mr. Guglielminotti notes, might have held reins, while the face cover -- as well as a flap of cloth over the back of his neck -- would have protected against wind, sun and sand.

　　東方藝術(shù)博物館東亞藝術(shù)廳的負(fù)責(zé)人崔維爾(Marco Guglielminotti Trivel)說，該館暫將這尊墓俑命名為“騎駱駝或馬的波斯人”(a Persian riding a camel or a horse)。它是阿涅利基金會(huì)(Agnelli Foundation)捐贈(zèng)給東方藝術(shù)博物館的五百件中國古代藝術(shù)品中的一件。墓俑的眼睛呈圓形，鷹鉤鼻子；雖然大多數(shù)此類墓俑所表現(xiàn)的男子都是跨立騎姿，但橫坐馬鞍倒也并非絕無僅有。崔維爾說，墓俑舉起的拳頭可能是在握住韁繩，而蒙面巾和覆蓋后頸的一片布應(yīng)該是為了防風(fēng)、防曬和防沙。

　　“Keep in mind that at the height of the Tang period, the population of the imperial capital was about one million and, of these, at least a fourth were probably foreigners,” Mr. Guglielminotti says. And many of them were Sogdians, a Persian people who dominated trade along the Silk Road. So it stands to reason that, when creating a microcosm of everyday reality to accompany the deceased in the afterlife, wealthy Chinese often included foreigners. It also showed just how cosmopolitan they were.

　　崔維爾說，“要知道，在唐朝的鼎盛時(shí)期，唐帝國都城的人口在100萬人左右，其中可能至少有四分之一是外國人。”當(dāng)時(shí)很多外國人都是粟特人，即波斯人的一支，他們控制著絲綢之路上的貿(mào)易。因此我們可以做出這種假設(shè)，富有的中國古人在給死去的親人創(chuàng)造一個(gè)日常生活縮影讓其帶入陰間時(shí)，往往也會(huì)把外國人包括在內(nèi)。這也反映出當(dāng)時(shí)的中國人有多么地國際化。

　　But the camel-rider interpretation is not entirely satisfying. Just ask Marcello Pacini, who headed the Agnelli Foundation for 25 years and acquired the statue at auction some 20 years ago for its collection. “I have never seen a rider with such intensity in his eyes,” he says. “His is the expression of a priest honoring a god, not that of a camel rider facing some banal complication.” He speculates that our riveting mystery man is a Zoroastrian priest feeding the sacred fire. He points to the fact that Zoroastrian Sogdians had a visible presence in Tang China and that Zoroastrian priests wore a face cover during rituals to avoid polluting the fire with breath or saliva.

　　然而，騎駱駝的假設(shè)并不能讓人完全信服。這一點(diǎn)，只要問問執(zhí)掌阿涅利基金會(huì)25年之久的帕西尼(Marcello Pacini)就知道了。他大約在20年前通過拍賣得到這尊墓俑，作為基金會(huì)的收藏。他說，“我從未見過哪個(gè)騎者墓俑有這么專注的眼神。這很像是一位祭司向神祗祈禱時(shí)的眼神，而不是一個(gè)騎著駱駝的人在處理一些小困難時(shí)該有的表情。”他懷疑這位神秘男子是一個(gè)正在給圣火添柴的拜火教(Zoroastrian)的祭司。他指出，信仰拜火教的粟特人在中國唐代確有存在，拜火教祭司在舉行祭祀儀式時(shí)會(huì)在臉上蒙布，以免自己的呼吸或唾液玷污圣火。

　　Still, the case is not airtight. Zoroastrian priests, for example, wore belts with tassels, yet the belt here is plain; priests usually appear standing, while our man sits; and their face cover -- or padam -- is square, while this one falls in a triangle like a folded kerchief. Not a deal breaker, according to Mr. Pacini. He speculates that communities of Sogdian traders might have adapted rituals and costumes to caravan life.

　　不過，這種假設(shè)也并非滴水不漏。比如說，拜火教祭司會(huì)圍著飾有流蘇的腰帶，而這尊墓俑的腰帶上沒有任何裝飾；拜火教祭司的形象通常都是站立的，而這尊墓俑卻是坐著的；拜火教祭司的蒙面巾是方形的，而這尊墓俑的是三角形，就像把方巾對(duì)折了一樣。但帕西尼認(rèn)為，這些并不足以推翻他的假設(shè)。他認(rèn)為粟特人的商隊(duì)可能會(huì)調(diào)整祭祀儀式和服裝，以適應(yīng)商隊(duì)不斷遷徙的生活方式。

　　Could outside experts resolve the issue? Although intrigued by the Zoroastrian theory, Prof. Suzanne Cahill of the University of California, San Diego, nevertheless warns against reading too much into the disconnect between the eyes and hands. She specializes in Tang material culture and notes that in foreign figures the gaze is often intense 'whether or not their bodies are tense. The artists fixate on the big round eyes and often caricature them.' But the face veil mystifies her; “it might be part of a dancer's costume,” she muses.

　　外部的專家能否解開這個(gè)謎團(tuán)呢？加州大學(xué)圣迭戈分校(University of California, San Diego)的卡西爾(Suzanne Cahill)教授對(duì)這尊墓俑表現(xiàn)的是拜火教祭司的說法很感興趣，但她提醒大家不要在眼部和手部細(xì)節(jié)上鉆牛角尖。作為研究唐朝物質(zhì)文化的專家，她說當(dāng)時(shí)的這種外國人墓俑往往都是眼神非常專注的，“不管他們的身體是否處于緊張狀態(tài)，這是因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)的藝術(shù)家專注于表現(xiàn)又大又圓的眼睛，并經(jīng)常采取夸張的表現(xiàn)手法。”不過，墓俑的蒙面巾讓她感到困惑，她猜測(cè)道，“這也許是舞者的服飾。”

　　In a similar vein, Tonia Eckfeld, who wrote “Imperial Tombs in Tang China, 618-907” (2005), thinks the figure in Turin might be a musician. “His loose sleeves would be consistent with a drummer, and the positions of his arms and hands suggest he could have been holding drumsticks,” she emails after examining images of the statuette. But Mr. Guglielminotti, who has the advantage of examining the actual object, says the pose is not quite right for that -- one sleeve falls too far over the lap to allow enough room for an instrument.

　　艾克菲爾德(Tonia Eckfeld)是《中國唐代帝王陵墓，618年-907年》（Imperial Tombs in Tang China, 618-907，2005年出版）一書的作者，她得出了類似的結(jié)論，認(rèn)為這尊墓俑所表現(xiàn)的可能是一名樂手。在仔細(xì)觀察了墓俑的照片后，她在一封電子郵件中寫道，“他寬大的衣袖很像是一個(gè)鼓手的服飾，看他手臂和手的位置，應(yīng)該是拿著鼓槌。”但見過實(shí)物的崔維爾表示，墓俑的姿勢(shì)不像是在擊鼓──有一只垂下的衣袖在膝蓋部位拖得太長，沒有空間擺放下一個(gè)樂器了。

　　Mr. Guglielminotti then reluctantly admits to harboring a secret theory of his own. The only other tomb figures he knows that also appear to be sculpted portray four actors -- they, too, are in the MAO collection. “Similar dynamism and originality, but,” he adds, “there is more: The actors sport ‘exotic’ clothes that are practically identical to that of the veiled man.” Not only do tests indicate that the works probably come from the same atelier, but Mr. Guglielminotti thinks they might depict the same subject: an actor, maybe playing a robber surprised midtheft.

　　崔維爾有些遲疑地承認(rèn)，自己還有一個(gè)揣測(cè)沒說出來。他所知道的唯一四尊似乎也是雕刻而成的墓俑描繪的都是男伶的形象──這幾尊墓俑也收藏于東方藝術(shù)博物館內(nèi)。他說，“他們擁有相似的動(dòng)感和獨(dú)特之處，此外還有一點(diǎn)：男伶身著異域風(fēng)情的衣服，跟蒙面男子的衣服簡直一模一樣。”檢測(cè)發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些墓俑可能來自于同一個(gè)制作工場；不但如此，崔維爾還認(rèn)為，它們可能描繪的都是同樣的形象：蒙面男子也是個(gè)男伶，可能在表演強(qiáng)盜在作案過程中被發(fā)現(xiàn)的一幕場景。

　　Just a theory, he is quick to add, hoping that future research will investigate this possibility too. In the meantime, only two things are certain: As unusual as our man is among burial figures, he is authentic according to thermoluminescence tests; and whatever he represented to eighth-century Chinese, to 21st-century scholars he is a riveting work of art.

　　崔維爾旋即又補(bǔ)充道，這只是個(gè)猜想而已，他希望下一步的研究將探討這種可能性是否存在?，F(xiàn)在，只有兩件事是肯定的：第一，這尊墓俑是墓俑中的另類，而且熱釋光檢測(cè)證實(shí)其為真品；第二，無論這尊墓俑對(duì)公元八世紀(jì)的中國人意味著什么，對(duì)公元二十一世紀(jì)的研究學(xué)者而言，它是一件引人遐想的藝術(shù)精品。