| Zusammenfassung: | This paper proposes a methodological distinction for the study of artifacts of cultural interaction on the one hand, and representations of cultural identity on the other, as an approach to understanding how exotic objects, motifs, and styles become domesticated and normalized over time. It examines the process by which the tunic, trousers, and boots that were understood as non-Chinese (Xianbei-style) men's dress in the visual culture of the late fifth and early sixth century became a form of ordinary men's dress, not particularly ethnically marked, by the seventh. At the same time, Xianbei-style women's dress disappeared entirely, to be replaced first by Chinese-style robes for women and later by newer borrowings from Central Asia. This process, whereby the meaning of an imported form of dress becomes decoupled from its exotic origins, suggests that figures of women and young girls depicted in tunics and trousers in art of the early Tang should for the most part be understood to be dressed as men or boys, not as foreigners. In addition, these changes in the significance of non-Chinese dress styles may also help explain the rise of physiognomy (rather than dress) as a primary visual sign of ethnic difference in the Tang.
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