Dancer Holding A Pipa Behind Her Back

Cave #112, 781-847 AD. Middle Tang Dynasty
Mogao Caves, Dunhuang

The first rock-and-roller to play an electric guitar behind his back might well have congratulated himself on the innovation, except for this pictorial evidence from 1200 years earlier. The entertainer is dancing, surrounded by an orchestra, barefoot upon a carpet, while holding a pipa (lute) behind her back. This has always been interpreted as playing the pipa behind her back, although that is not quite what the picture indicates (the angle of its neck shows that the front of the instrument is facing the viewer, while her right hand is supporting its back).

Since the image is part of a Pure Land (Amida's Western Paradise) scene in the cave, it must depict a celestial dancer, as her costume also indicates; however, it is easy to imagine similar entertainments being enacted in reality for the enjoyment of travelers along the Silk Road.