Han Dynasty Tomb Sculpture

Stone sculpture was something of a latecomer to Chinese art, starting a thousand years after figures were being made in jade and bronze Under the first period of the Han dynasty, known as the Western Han (206 B.C.E. 9 C.E.), it was used mainly for the tombs (burial chambers) of emperors or local rulers, but by the Eastern Han(25 C.E. -220 C.E.), the second period of Han rule, it had spread more widely. This change was largely the result of the increased importance of the tomb in the political philosophy of the time. The early Western Han emperors, faced with the problem of forging a unified empire threatened by uprisings on the part of ambitious rival kingdoms. had retained many of the first emperor’s policies based on military force and harsh laws. But by the middle of the first century B.C.E., these were being replaced by an adaptation of the ideas of the fifth-century B.C.E. philosopher, Confucius, whose philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, to the conditions of a united empire. Believing that in the long run, stability depended on an acceptance of the legitimacy of the ruler(and dynasty) rather than on military force, Han intellectuals and officials adopted a moral philosophy based on the belief that humans are perfectible through education, and that a hierarchical society consists of a network of reciprocal duties and obligations: the subject’s duty to obey the ruler was matched by the ruler’s obligation to care for his subjects.

The increased emphasis on civic duty and order encouraged stability, loyalty, and obedience to the state, reinforcing central power. At the same time, the insistence on the value of education attracted intellectuals into state service, providing a well-qualified administration. In an age of rising standards of living with the growth of upwardly mobile merchant and artisan classes, the importance of filial piety (respect for parents and ancestors), one of the greatest of Confucian virtues, led to competitive tomb building. The imperial mausoleums(aboveground, freestanding tombs constructed as memorials)set the example and their extravagance was copied downwards. But why was there such urgent building of mausoleums?

A change in ritual had increased both the importance of the tomb and the scope for display. The ancestral rites previously held in city or palace temples were transferred to the tomb itself, making it necessary to build a hall south of the grave mound where the sacrifices could be performed. To emphasize the importance of the site, the approach was lined with an avenue of stone monuments known as the “spirit road” since it was along this road that the deceased would travel to the grave. This innovation became popular in Han society. It spread from the emperor to other parts of Han society, eventually crossing into neighboring lands such as Korea and Vietnam. The result was a manifold expansion in the use of stone statuary. No longer the prerogative of a few, it was now open to citizens anxious to display their piety and wealth by erecting freestanding stone statues on their fathers’ graves. The use of statuary spread so rapidly that, in order to prevent a complete devaluation of its status, it was controlled by imperial decree, and henceforth the number and subject matter of spirit road statues were regulated according to the social rank of the deceased.

More tomb statuary has survived than any other form of Han statuary, and the easiest way to see the development of sculpture during the first and second centuries is to use the tomb as a starting place. During the first century C.E. there appears to have been a remarkable increase in the use of stone in connection with the tomb. While free-standing statues and monuments were placed on the tomb above ground, the interior of stone and brick tomb chambers below were adorned with carvings of figures on walls and engravings on walls and doors. Features previously made in wood, such as coffins and steles (vertical markers placed in the ground to memorialize the dead), were now carved in stone. Above and below ground, tomb layout and ornamentation followed a coordinated plan. The same images and themes reappear in different places, and the tasks of the tomb are clearly allocated between different media. The result is an unparalleled picture of contemporary life and thought.?

1.Stone sculpture was something of a latecomer to Chinese art, starting a thousand years after figures were being made in jade and bronze Under the first period of the Han dynasty, known as the Western Han (206 B.C.E. 9 C.E.), it was used mainly for the tombs (burial chambers) of emperors or local rulers, but by the Eastern Han(25 C.E. -220 C.E.), the second period of Han rule, it had spread more widely. This change was largely the result of the increased importance of the tomb in the political philosophy of the time. The early Western Han emperors, faced with the problem of forging a unified empire threatened by uprisings on the part of ambitious?rival?kingdoms. had retained many of the first emperor’s policies based on military force and harsh laws. But by the middle of the first century B.C.E., these were being replaced by an adaptation of the ideas of the fifth-century B.C.E. philosopher, Confucius, whose philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, to the conditions of a united empire. Believing that in the long run, stability depended on an acceptance of the legitimacy of the ruler(and dynasty) rather than on military force, Han intellectuals and officials adopted a moral philosophy based on the belief that humans are perfectible through education, and that a hierarchical society consists of a network of reciprocal duties and obligations: the subject’s duty to obey the ruler was matched by the ruler’s obligation to care for his subjects.?