Apoorva Shah

Important Considerations in Han Dynasty Tombs

From a brief study of the various Han dynasty tombs, we notice that many of the prominent ones are

filled with objects and artwork that give us important clues into the lives of the Han dynasty Chinese people.

More importantly, by examining the details of these objects we can get a sense of their values and beliefs

about the afterlife, as well as the types of issues they were concerned about when preparing a tomb for a

deceased family member. Different objects had different purposes with regards to preparing the soul for the

afterlife. We will first divide the objects into three categories. The first is daily life objects, or objects

related to the relatives daily life. The second category is ritual objects, and the third category is objects used

primarily for symbolism, or the symbol category. We will then observe objects belonging to each category

to conclude that daily life objects showed an increasingly abstract view toward the after life, ritual objects

showed filial piety and reverence towards the deceased, and symbol objects showed a desire to protect the

soul and to give it a sense of immortality.

We will first categorize the images. However, it is important to note that these categories are only

loosely defined and it is possible to make arguments for putting an image in multiple categories. For the sake

of this discussion, it is not so important that an image belongs to multiple categories and as long as there is a

good reason for it to belong to a certain category, it is sufficient. Under the daily life category, we will

further subdivide it by human and nonhuman objects because this leads to a more organized manner of

description. The images classified under daily life (non-human) are Image 1: The Stove, Image 2: The

Granary, Image 3: Farm Shed, Image 4: Pigsty with Latrines. The images classified under daily life (human

form) are images 10,11,13 of various attendants. Next, we categorize the ritual objects as Image 9: Ritual

cup, Image 15: Incense Burners and Image 16: The Two Offering Jars. Finally, we categorize the symbol

objects as image Image 7: The Chimera, Image 8: The mastiff, Image 12: Grave Guardian Demon, Image 14:

Lamp of Human Form, Image 17: Eternal Riding Dragons.

The nonhuman daily life objects show that the Han dynasty Chinese had a slightly abstract view of

the afterlife. First we will note the size of all of these objects. They are very small compared to what they
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would be in real life. Unlike the Qin emperors tomb where the artifacts were life-sized, these objects make

no pretense of being life like. In fact, all of the details are minimalistically done so as to convey only the

idea of the object that they represent and nothing more. First let us consider Image 2: The Granary. The

material is earthenware and it is all connected as one complete piece. This is designed to convey the simple

idea of a granary as the decoration is minimal and all of its features are considered bare essentials. First

observe the legs. It might seem that this is an attempt at adding intricacy, since they are not standard legs

and more so resembling some animal. However, they lack any detail, only the bare outline of their form is

visible as well as some appendages. One possible interpretation of this is that it is supposed to represent a

real-life granary which might have had such details in the animal-shaped legs. Thus, this small clay granary

is not meant to be a model replica, but more as a symbol for a granary. The other carvings on this granary

are simple and not ornate, such as the markings on the sides and the criss-cross pattern. Next, we turn our

attention to Image 4, The Pigsty with Latrines. Starting from the top, we see a rudimentary clay roof over a

small room with a basic window. In the center, is a pit with a small pig. There is very little embellishment.

We only notice some faint criss-cross markings on the platform leading into the room. Otherwise, it is very

bare. Note that this is also made of earthenware. Finally, we turn our attention to the stairs. These stairs are

not very realistic as we can see they lack the definition to actually help someone climb. Similar to the feet of

the granary, these stairs only serve to illustrate the concept of stairs and are not actually meant to be a real

life miniature model of stairs in a Pigsty. The stove and farm shed (images 1 and 3) are also similarly basic,

and capture only the essentials parts of each objects real-life counterpart. This shows that the the Han

dynasty people chose to think of the after life in a much more abstract and symbolic manner. Unlike the

extreme detail in Qin Shi Huang Dis tomb, the Han dynasty people found it more important to convey the

idea of a Granary, or Pigsty, rather than an actual Granary or Pigsty.

Now we examine the Tomb attendants to show that they are also similarly fundamental. In image

11, we see a Male Tomb Attendant standing at attention, and he was presumably holding a staff given the

position of his hands. First, notice that he is not life-sized. Next, we observe that he is wearing a long robe,
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which is part of his clay figure. The robe is painted yellow and white and it obscures his anatomy. His face

has all the basic features but they are not sharp enough to determine his age or whether he is young or old. In

image 12, the standing tomb Attendants are an example of an even more fundamental form. The only

discernable human quality in them is their face and general outline of the shoulders and neck. Otherwise,

their body is flat, and their arms and legs are not visible. Thus, we see that the makers of these attendants

only wanted to convey the basic concept of the attendants. The female attendants in image 10 are similarly

fundamental, and do not contain any extra details. So this shows that the Han dynasty Chinese were more

focused on conveying the concept of the daily life objects rather than the actual objects themselves, and it

shows that they had a more abstract view of the afterlife.

Observing the ritual objects found in Han dynasty tombs show that another major concern for the

Han dynasty people was to show filial piety and reverence towards the deceased. In image 9, we see an

ornate ritual cup. It looks like it is made of bronze and the mouth is much wider than the base. There are

two knobs at the top and a handle at the center. This cup is not meant for everyday drinking because if we

notice the narrowness of the spout, it is hard to sip from, so this object was placed in the tomb for the purpose

of ritual. Unlike the objects in the daily life category, this one also has some elaborate designs in the center

strip. One interpretation for this is that the cup was used for ritual by the organizers of the tomb and this

shows reverence towards the deceased family member, as well as possible filial piety. Another example of

reverence and filial piety is seen in Image 16, the two jars. We first notice the very unique shape of the jars.

The horizontal cross sections of the jars are square, while the vertical cross sections of the jars are very

curvy. This contrast gives the jars a very striking and interesting design. Next, notice that the entire surface

of the jars is used as a canvas for the painting of some monster, most likely a dragon. As a painting, this is

partitioned off into sections divided by a white strip. Furthermore the use of white color catches the eyes and

it stands out from the other colors which are duller. These jars stored rice which was used as an offering to

the deceased, thus showing reverence and filial piety. Finally, note that these jars are also made of

earthenware. If we compare the jars to the ones found in the farm shed (Image 3). We note the contrast.
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These jars are elaborately painted while the ones in the farm shed are not. This suggests the function of the

jars was more for reverence, and ritual, rather than daily life. Finally, we look at the incense burners in

image 15. These are also both ornate, made of bronze, and in the shape of a mountain, which is meant to

symbolize immortality. So the ritual objects show that reverence and filial piety was an important

consideration for the Han dynasty Chinese in preparing a tomb.

Finally we turn our attention to the symbol objects, which were used to protect the soul of the

deceased. In image 8 of the mastiff, we note that dogs had a protective function in Chinese spirituality. The

function of this dog is mainly symbolic and we can infer this from the size, as it is fairly small. It also

contains a ring on its back which suggests that it was attached in some manner. Other symbolic objects were

used to convey the concept of immortality such as Image 17 with the eternal riding dragons. In this bronze

piece, we can only see the silhouette of the dragons and their rider. The surface of the pieces is flat, and the

main image that is being conveyed is that of a rider on a dragon, with very few other details. Another object

with a protective function is image 7 with the Chimera and image 12 with the Grave Guardian Demon. The

Guardian Demon is another example of a minimalistic design, The most prominent feature is the two horns

sticking out of its head but there very few other intricate details. Thus the symbol objects, were meant to

convey ideas of immortality and protection for the soul, but were not necessarily expected to have a greater

function beyond that in the afterlife.

After observing the three categories of objects, we see that the main purpose of them was to convey

certain ideas, such as protection of the soul, immortality, mundane life, filial piety, and reverence. However,

the primary function was to convey the concepts and nothing more. The objects were not expected to spring

to life in the afterlife, especially because they were not life-sized. Rather, these objects represented a more

abstract, concept driven view towards the afterlife.

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List of Images

Image 1: Stove
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Image 2: Granary
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Image 3: Farm Shed With Grain Mill

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Image 4: Pigsty With Latrines

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Image 5: Granary
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Image 7: Chimera
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Image 8: Dog(Mastiff)
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Image 9: Ritual Cup

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Image 10: Female Tomb Attendants

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Image 11: Male Tomb Attendant

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Image 12: Grave guardian demon

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Image 13: Standing Tomb Attendants

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Image 14: Lamp of Human Form

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Image 15: Incense Burner

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Image 16: Square Bottomed Jars

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Image 17: Eternal riding dragons