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Chapter 3: Qin and Han

Architecture of the same period: Chapter 3: Qin and Han

The Qin unification and four centuries of relative stability under the Han enlarged the scale of art as never before, and its subjects shifted from the gods to the human world. Most surviving works come from tombs: pottery figures, silk paintings, murals and pictorial stones, all made for the world after death.

The Terracotta Army. The pits east of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor at Lintong, Xi'an, have yielded thousands of pottery soldiers and horses arranged in battle formation. The figures are close to life size; their bodies were assembled from molded parts, and their heads and faces finished by hand, each with different hair, beard and expression. They were originally painted all over, but most of the color flaked off after excavation. Two bronze chariots found west of the mound, about half life size, are made of thousands of parts with precise construction, showing the casting and assembly skills of the time.

Silk paintings and lacquer. The T-shaped silk painting from Tomb 1 of the Mawangdui Han tombs in Changsha lay over the inner coffin. From top to bottom it shows heaven, the human world and the underworld: at the top a sun, a moon and a deity with a human head and serpent body; in the middle the deceased, an old lady, walking slowly with a staff, attendants before and behind; at the bottom a strongman holding up the earth, with water creatures. The composition is crowded yet orderly, and the mineral colors such as cinnabar and azurite remain bright today. The same tomb yielded a large number of well-preserved lacquerwares with freely flowing cloud patterns; on the painted coffins spirits and monsters appear among the clouds.

Pictorial stones and bricks. In the Eastern Han it was common to carve pictures on tomb chambers, shrines and stone gate towers; these are called pictorial stones, and pictures stamped on bricks are called pictorial bricks. The main regions are Shandong, northern Jiangsu, Nanyang in Henan, Sichuan and northern Shaanxi, with especially many finds around Xuzhou. Subjects include myths (Fuxi and Nüwa, the Queen Mother of the West), historical stories (Jing Ke's attempt on the King of Qin, the Duke of Zhou assisting King Cheng), filial sons and virtuous women, and processions, banquets, kitchens, music and dance, and acrobatics. The Guo Family Shrine at Xiaotangshan in Changqing, Jinan, is one of the oldest surviving above-ground buildings, its inner walls covered with carvings. The Taishi, Shaoshi and Qimu gate towers at Dengfeng are also carved with pictures. The Wu Liang Shrine (the stone carvings of the Wu family cemetery) at Jiaxiang, Shandong, has the most systematic program, from ancient rulers to loyal ministers and filial sons in sequence, each scene labeled. Pictorial stones are mostly carved in shallow flat relief, with figures in silhouette-like profile, exaggerated gestures and strong movement. Sichuan pictorial bricks mostly show daily life; on the brick Shooting Birds and Harvesting, the upper half shows hunters shooting geese by a pond and the lower half farmers reaping, a rare early scene of landscape and labor.

Tomb murals. Tomb murals became more common after the Western Han. A mural in the tomb of Bu Qianqiu in Luoyang shows the couple ascending to immortality on a dragon and phoenix. On the ceiling of a Western Han tomb of a king of Liang (the Shiyuan tomb) at Mangdang Mountain in Yongcheng, Henan, the Four Spirits and Clouds shows the Azure Dragon, White Tiger and Vermilion Bird moving through clouds, one of the earlier large tomb murals. The murals of an Eastern Han tomb at Horinger, Inner Mongolia, depict the official career and estate life of the tomb owner on a large scale. The court already had professional painters; the Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital tells of the painter Mao Yanshou taking bribes when painting portraits and of Wang Zhaojun, but this is legend.

Sculpture. The stone sculptures before the tomb of Huo Qubing of the Western Han (beside the Maoling mausoleum in present-day Xingping, Shaanxi) follow the natural shape of the boulders with minimal carving. Horse Trampling a Xiongnu, Crouching Tiger, Leaping Horse and others are simple and powerful, the earliest surviving group of large monumental stone sculpture. The Changxin Palace Lamp from the tomb of Dou Wan at Mancheng, Hebei, takes the form of a kneeling palace maid holding a lamp; its shade can be opened and closed to adjust the light, and smoke is drawn up the maid's sleeve into her body, keeping the room clean. The Bronze Galloping Horse from an Eastern Han tomb at Leitai, Wuwei, Gansu, has three hooves in the air and one resting on a flying bird, balanced by a precisely placed center of gravity; it is popularly called "Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow", though whether the bird is a swallow is disputed. The Eastern Han Storyteller Beating a Drum from Tianhuishan in Chengdu, bare-chested and pot-bellied, beaming with animation, captures character through exaggeration.

Han art values movement and vigor, with simplified forms and bold lines. Lu Xun described Han stone carving as "deep, grand and powerful in spirit", and Eastern Han clerical-script inscriptions on cliffs, such as the Xixia Eulogy at Chengxian, Gansu, share the same quality. Only after the Wei and Jin did this style gradually turn toward refinement and lyricism.

Representative works

	Work	Period	Type	Collection	Notes
	Terracotta Warriors and Horses↑	Qin	Pottery figures	Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum	From the pits east of the First Emperor's mausoleum at Lintong, Xi'an.
	Kneeling Archer	Qin	Pottery figure	Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum	From Pit 2; relatively intact, with some paint surviving.
	Bronze Chariots and Horses↑	Qin	Bronze chariots and horses	Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum	About half life size.
	T-shaped Silk Painting from Mawangdui Tomb 1↑	Western Han	Painting on silk	Hunan Museum	Shows heaven, the human world and the underworld.
	Painted Lacquer Coffin on a Red Ground, Mawangdui Tomb 1↑	Western Han	Lacquer	Hunan Museum	Clouds and mythical beasts painted on red.
	Plain Gauze Unlined Robe	Western Han	Silk	Hunan Museum	From Mawangdui Tomb 1; extremely light and sheer.
	Carvings of the Guo Family Shrine at Xiaotangshan↑	Eastern Han	Pictorial stone	In situ, Changqing, Jinan	One of the oldest surviving above-ground buildings.
	Wu Liang Shrine Pictorial Stones↑	Eastern Han	Pictorial stone	In situ, Wu family cemetery, Jiaxiang, Shandong	Historical scenes, each with a label.
	Shooting Birds and Harvesting↑	Eastern Han	Pictorial brick	Sichuan Museum	Shooting geese above, harvesting below.
	Murals of the Tomb of Bu Qianqiu↑	Western Han	Tomb mural	Luoyang Museum of Ancient Art	The tomb owner and his wife ascending to immortality.
	Murals of the Han Tomb at Horinger↑	Eastern Han	Tomb mural		The tomb owner's official career and estate life.
	Horse Trampling a Xiongnu	Western Han	Stone sculpture	Maoling Museum	One of the sculptures before the tomb of Huo Qubing.
	Changxin Palace Lamp↑	Western Han	Bronze lamp	Hebei Museum	From the tomb of Dou Wan at Mancheng; adjustable light, smoke drawn into the body.
	Boshan Censer Inlaid with Gold↑	Western Han	Bronze censer	Hebei Museum	From the tomb of Liu Sheng at Mancheng; the lid forms a range of mountains.
	Bronze Galloping Horse↑	Eastern Han	Bronze figure	Gansu Provincial Museum	Found at Leitai, Wuwei; popularly called "Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow".
	Storyteller Beating a Drum↑	Eastern Han	Pottery figure	National Museum of China	Found at Tianhuishan, Chengdu.

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