Ancient Figurines

Most ancient figurines have come down as funerary objects. They have their origin in the institutions of immolation or burying the living with the dead.

Immolation was practiced in the period of slavery. In 1950, excavations made of a Shang Dynasty(c.17th-11th century B.C.) aristocrat's tomb at Wuguan Village, Anyang, Henan Province, brought to light the remains of 79 slaves who had been buried alive with their dead master. Besides, in 27 pits arranged in rows in front and at the back of the tomb were discovered, buried en masse, the skeletons of 207 other slaves beheaded in immolation.

The cruel custom of burying the living with the dead, though replaced by the burying of tomb figurines, lingered on and was practiced in isolated cases under nearly every dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644), according to contemporary notes, a human sacrifice was entertained to a sumptuous temple to meet his last day before being led down to an underground temple to meet his horrible end. At the funeral of an emperor, palace maids were reportedly pushed, one after another, onto bed-like racks, and their heads into nooses, and were hanged after the racks had been removed. When Emperor Changzu of the Ming died in 1424, sixteen persons were buried alive with him. In the eastern and western "wells" on either side of the Changling Mausoleum (the largest of the Ming Tombs) are the remains of his immolated concubines.

After the Qin and Han dynasties, tomb figurines began to be used instead of human beings. And vast numbers of them, dating from the Warring States Period(475-221 B.C.) down to the Ming(1368-1644), have been unearthed. They are of various descriptions but most are made of pottery and porcelain, next come wood and lacquer, and occasionally jade. They represent people of different status and walks-court officials, generals, cavaliers, attendants, musicians, dancers and acrobats. As a rule, they are nicely modeled in different postures, constituting a valuable part of China's ancient art.

Jade figurines first appeared in China during the 8th to 3rd century B.C. A number of tiny jade figures were unearthed in 1974 from a mausoleum of the ancient state of Zhongshan. Most of them appear to be females, though some are lads. They have their hair done up in buns on the head-double buns for women and single one for the boys. They all stand, holding their hands before the chest. The female are clad in tight-sleeved dresses, buttoned down the middle, and the chequered long skirts. The hairdo and costume must be true-to-life reproductions of those prevalent in Zhongshan at the time.

The Qin(221-206 B.C) and Han(206 B.C-220 A.D.) dynasties are noted for the high quality and large numbers of pottery figurines they produced. In 1974 the famous terracotta warriors and horses of Qin Shi Huang(the first Emperor of the Qin) were discovered just east of his mausoleum. The excavation is still going on, and Vault No.1 alone is expected to yield 6,000 of them. The life-sized figures of men and horses are in neat battle formation, with the men holding real bronze weapons of the time and reflecting the formidable might of the legions of the First Emperor.

In the winter of 1980, another valuable find was made to the west of the mausoleum. Two bronze carriages, standing one behind the other, were discovered. Each was drawn by a team of four bronze horses and driven by a driver, also made of bronze. All figures are half life-size, weighing a total of 1,800 kilogram's. They are the earliest, largest, most elaborate and best-preserved models of ancient bronze carriages, complete with animals and drivers, even found in this country.

Each discovery at and near the Qing Shi Huang Mausoleum has caused-and will cause-a stir among archaeologists the world over. Han Dynasty figurines show clear influences of the Qin, but are smaller in size. An impressive discovery was made a few years ago in a Han tomb at Yangjiawan, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province of a total of 3,000 pained pottery figures. Most of the standing figurines represent warriors, and some of them are equestrians. Compared with the human figures, the horses are more expressive; some stand quietly and others rear up with an unheard neigh. They must be truthful portraits in sculpture of the foot and mounted troops of the Han dynasty.

With the flourishing of ceramics during the Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties(10th-17th century), the tomb figurines of this long period are mostly glazed pottery and porcelain, among which the "tricolor glazed pottery of the Tang" is world-famous. Out of the ancient tombs of Xi'an and Luoyang have been unearthed many color-glazed females, horses and camels. Noteworthy especially are the pottery camel drivers with their deep-set eyes, protruding noses and hairy faces, evidently Central Asians who plied the Silk Road with their caravans.

The "Tri-colored Tangs" represent in effect a special handicraft art catering solely to the funerary needs of the aristocracy at the heyday of China's feudalism.

Wooden figurines have been a much longer history which extends back to the Warring States Period(475-221 B.C.). They have been found in many ancient tombs of different ages and in different localities. The tomb of Zhu Tan, prince of Lu(the tenth son of the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming), situated in Zouxian, Shandong province, yielded in 1974 a total of 406 painted wood figures in the formation of a long funeral procession. It consists of three parts: musicians leading in front, followed by attendants and military officers in the middle, and civil officials bringing up the rear. The figures-a sculptured model of an early Ming(2nd half of the 14th century) funeral-are on display in the Provincial Museum of Shandong in Jinan.

Some wood figurines have been found in the Dingling Mausoleum of the Ming Tombs. They are few in number and crude in workmanship, showing that wood figures were already going out of vogue towards the end of the dynasty.

During the Qing Dynasty(1616-1911), paper figures appeared; they were not buried with the dead but were burnt at funerals to follow the dead to the nether world. After the fall of the Qing, tomb figures have fallen completely into disuse.

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