21.   Stone Panel with Flying Figure
Yuan dynasty (1272—1368)
Quanzhou Maritime Museum
Ricci 21  KP 046 Z13

This flying figure is without wings, and holds part of a stand which may once have supported a cross. The figure has side-locks, a pointed crown, a billowing scarf and flowing draperies. There is a cloud design to the left of the figure.

The depiction of angels in early Christian iconography owed much to winged “victory” figures from the Greco-Roman and Persian worlds. From the fourth century, flying angels were represented on Christian sarcophagi, supporting the cross as a symbol of Christ’s victory over death, the reason for their inclusion as a motif on many of the Quanzhou tombstones. What has yet to be properly explained is the transmission of this motif from the Middle East to China and its subsequent appearance in Quanzhou in the Mongol era.