Burial Goods of the Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history during which a great deal of art, including burial goods, was produced.

Learning Objective

Describe the materials with which individuals were buried during the Han Dyansty

Key Points

One of the most well-known styles of art during the Han Dynasty was burial art, which evolved between the Western and Eastern Han periods.
During the Western Han period, burial goods were usually wares and pieces of art that were used by the tomb occupant when they were alive.
During the Eastern Han period, new stylistic goods, wares, and artwork found in tombs were usually made exclusively for burial.
Common items used for burial during the Eastern Han period included miniature models of ceramic towers, querns, water wells, pigsties, pestling shops, and farm fields with pottery pigs, dogs, sheep, chickens, and ducks.
Although many items placed in tombs were commonly used wares and utensils, it was considered taboo to bring objects specified for burial into living quarters or the imperial palace.
The Han Dynasty was known for jade burial suits, or ceremonial suits made of pieces of jade in which royal members in Han Dynasty were buried.
One of the earliest known depictions of a landscape in Chinese art also comes from a pair of hollow-tile door panels from a Western Han Dynasty tomb near Zhengzhou, dated 60 BCE.

Term

jade
An ornamental rock used from prehistoric periods for hardstone carving.

Full Text

Overview: The Han Dynasty

The period of the Han Dynasty, which spanned over four centuries, is considered a golden age in Chinese history during which a great deal of art was produced. The period has been divided into the Western Han (206 BCE – 9 CE) and the Eastern Han (25–220 CE) periods. One of the most well-known styles of art during the Han Dynasty was burial art, which evolved between the Western and Eastern Han periods.

Art of the Han Dynasty

Burial Goods

During the Western Han period, burial goods consisted of wares and pieces of art that were used by the tomb occupant when they were alive. During the Eastern Han period, however, new stylistic goods, wares, and artwork found in tombs were usually made exclusively for burial and were not produced for previous use by the deceased when they were alive.

Common items used for burial during the Eastern Han period included miniature ceramic towers—usually watchtowers and urban residential towers—which provide historians with clues about lost wooden architecture. In addition to towers, there were also miniature models of querns (hand mills for grinding grain), water wells, pigsties, pestling shops, and farm fields with pottery pigs, dogs, sheep, chickens, and ducks. Although many items placed in tombs were commonly used wares and utensils, it was considered taboo to bring objects specified for burial into living quarters or the imperial palace. They could only be brought into living quarters once they were properly announced at funerary ceremonies, where they became known as mingqi (明/冥, "fearsome artifacts," "objects for the dead," or "brilliant artifacts").

Model of Han ceramic tomb

A Han ceramic tomb model of a multiple-story residential tower with a first-floor gatehouse and courtyard, mid-floor balcony, windows, and clearly distinguished support brackets.

Other Tomb Art

The Han Dynasty was known for jade burial suits, or ceremonial suits made of pieces of jade in which royal members in Han Dynasty were buried. One of the earliest known depictions of a landscape in Chinese art also comes from a pair of hollow-tile door panels from a Western Han Dynasty tomb near Zhengzhou, dated 60 BCE. A scene of continuous depth recession is conveyed by the zigzag of lines representing roads and garden walls, giving the impression that one is looking down from the top of a hill. This artistic landscape scene was made by the repeated impression of standard stamps on the clay while it was still soft and not yet fired. However, the oldest known landscape art scene tradition in the classical sense of painting is a work by Zhan Ziqian of the later Sui Dynasty (581–618 CE).

A Han Dynasty Jade burial suit

A Jade burial suit is a ceremonial suit made of pieces of jade in which royal members in Han Dynasty were buried.

[ edit ]