Abstract
Early Chinese tombs contain great quantities of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines as well as architectural models. Both kinds of miniatures are generally regarded as part of a single trajectory that ultimately substituted for human sacrifices. The purpose of it all was to create `underground homes' so that the deceased could enjoy the amenities of their former lives in the hereafter. This understanding is largely based on received literature and scattered archaeological finds. Through a detailed analysis of the earliest instances of funerary sculptures, this article seeks to demonstrate that figurines and models at first represented two different rationales. Later on, these converged into a new view of the afterlife, one that symbolized not only `underground homes', but entire estates of an ever increasing number of landowners. Early Chinese tomb miniatures were thus instrumental in the formation of personalized, subterranean microcosms, or private `little empires'.
Item Type: | Journal article |
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Keywords: | Early China;figurines;mingqi;models;tombs |
Faculties: | Cultural Studies > Department of Asian Studies > Sinology |
Subjects: | 300 Social sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology 900 History and geography > 950 History of Asia |
ISSN: | 0043-8243 |
Language: | English |
Item ID: | 69021 |
Date Deposited: | 25. Sep 2019, 11:57 |
Last Modified: | 04. Nov 2020, 13:51 |