The Qin and Han dynasties used to have the custom of burial with the living, which was very cruel no matter how you look at it. Fortunately, after arriving in the Qin and Han Dynasties, the burial of living people slowly became less, and it was figurines that replaced the burial of living people.
Figurines are dolls used by the ancients to accompany burials, and belong to the Ming ware (hades). Why use figurines for burial? The ancients always thought that they enjoyed the golden clothes and jade food before they died, and after they died, they still wanted to continue to enjoy the same glory, wealth, power, and majesty as before they died. Figurines are generally made of ceramics, but also made of wood. The earliest pottery figurines appeared from the tombs of the Spring and Autumn Warring States.
Fuqin wood figurines musician figurines Han Dynasty
Because the figurines are meant to make people roughly the same after death and before they die, a lot of information about ancient societies can be found from ancient tombs, such as lifestyles, ancient cultures, and even some platoons can be found in the tombs of some generals and emperors. This allows modern people to study ancient culture and military to provide some convenience.
When it comes to figurines, the first thing that many people think of is the Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang. Because the Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang are really famous, it is the "eighth wonder" of the world.
From the Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang, we can see that the characteristics of the figurines of the Qin Dynasty period are realistic, the soldiers, horses, etc. in the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang are similar to the real size, the depiction of the head is very real, and the artistic height of the Qin Dynasty figurines is difficult to surpass. But today we are going to talk about the Han figurines.
Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang
The figurines reached their peak during the Han Dynasty, and the number of Han figurines unearthed was relatively large. Moreover, the style of the han dynasty figurines is diametrically opposed to that of the Qin dynasty. The biggest artistic feature of the Han figurines is freehand. Han figurines no longer pursue realism, but freehand.
What is freehand? Freehand is not like realism, freehand is more in the description of the object's inner life, temperament, spirit and other internal content, conveying the divine portrayal, paying attention not to the proportion of figurines and real people, but to grasp the details of people's dynamics, looks and so on.
Eastern Han Dynasty pottery figurines
So why did the number of figurines suddenly change so much in the Han Dynasty, and why did his artistic characteristics change from the realism of the Qin Dynasty to freehand?
First, the origin and conditions of the Han figurines
The increase in the number of Han figurines is closely related to the economic conditions, customs and culture at that time.
1. The influence of the economy on the Han figurines
In the early days of the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, after years of war, the people's livelihood was withered away, and the economy was seriously damaged. From Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gaozu, to Liu Qi, the Emperor of Han Jing, did not advocate thick burial, in order to recuperate, after more than 70 years of hard work, finally arrived at the time of Emperor Wu of Han, the Han Dynasty appeared a rare prosperity.
The Book of Han records that": "In the seventy years to the beginning of Emperor Wu, the country died (nothing), and if there was no flood or drought, the people gave enough to the family, and they all despised the yu yu, and the government treasury was surplus. The money of the Kyoshi is huge and huge, and it is decaying and unschoolable. Taicang's millet is full of dew and accumulation, and corruption is inedible. ”.
The country has become so rich, the ancestors have saved so much money, and the extravagance of the descendants has begun to change. It is this abundance that makes the atmosphere of thick burial strike again.
Emperor Wu of Han began to build a mausoleum for himself from the age of 17 until his death at the age of 71. It took decades to build a mausoleum, and you can imagine how rich the funerary products after death are, otherwise how can it be worthy of his hard work to build such a luxurious mausoleum.
Mausoleum of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty - Mao Mausoleum
Emperor Wu of Han was like this, and the people below would naturally follow the trend, and the whole country was popular in the atmosphere of thick burial. This is true of the rich, but it is also true of ordinary people, and even if they lose their homes, they will bury their ancestors for a long time.
2. The influence of customs and habits
Why did the tombs of emperors and princes build so luxuriously? Why bury your ancestors? In fact, these are related to the customs and habits of the time.
The ancients believed that the soul is immortal after death, and that the soul also affects the living. In other words, the soul can bring blessings to future generations, but at the same time, the soul can also harm others. Coupled with the fact that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty pursued the Immortal Alchemy at that time, these superstitious views seriously affected the people at that time. From emperors to people, worshipping ancestors and praying for the blessings of their ancestors for future generations has become a common activity. Then burying the ancestors thickly is the greatest respect for the ancestors, and it will also allow the ancestors to protect the future generations.
Tomb of King Chu of Lion Mountain, Xuzhou
On the other hand, in order to consolidate his ruling position, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty proposed the policy of "deposing hundreds of families and respecting Confucianism alone". Filial piety was advocated, and filial piety was also used as the criterion for electing officials. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established "Filial Piety". In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the "Filial Piety Classic" also had a very important position.
Filial piety is not bad, but after reaching a certain level, how to consider whether this person is filial piety? A thick burial is an effective means for the world to see your filial piety, because the ancients said, "Make the graves of your ancestors thrifty." Non-filial piety. ”
All these led to the han dynasty's thick burial wind, and the flourishing of the thick burial wind provided good conditions for the emergence of Han figurines.
Second, the formation of the freehand style of the Han figurines and the beauty of the Han figurines art
The number of Han Dynasty figurines has increased, but why are there greatly different artistic styles between Han figurines and Qin Dynasty figurines?
1. The influence of Chu culture on Han culture
The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin Dynasty in many ways, such as politics, economy, and law, but culturally the Han Dynasty inherited the Chu culture. Because the founding emperor of the Western Han Dynasty and the homeland of many important subjects is the land of Western Chu. The more important point in Chu culture is romanticism, the influence of romantic aesthetic ideas on the Han Dynasty is not only reflected in the Han figurines, many works of art in the Han Dynasty have been influenced by Romanticism and appear freehand, such as stone carvings, paintings and so on.
Therefore, we can see that the Han figurines are not as close to reality as the Qin figurines, but more embody a rough and exaggerated artistic style to express the vitality and charm of the Han figurines. Of course, the Han figurines are not completely realistic, more accurately it should be more freehand than realistic, if there is no realism at all, then it is impossible to see what is depicted. Therefore, we can feel the hazy beauty of the Han figurines from the Han figurines.
The hazy beauty is not to say that the Depiction of Han Figurines is not clear, but it is deliberately portrayed carefully when depicting, so that the viewer can feel a feeling of seeing flowers in the fog, so many Han figurines are not portrayed in all aspects of clothing ornaments and facial expressions.
For example, we can see the following "Kitchen Figurine", her facial features are basically invisible, but we can't say no. There is a sense of seeing flowers in the fog, but we can clearly see the smile at the corner of her lips, her smile is very affinity, and one laugh makes the whole Han figurine have a three-dimensional sense.
Cooking figurines
2. Influence of Taoist philosophy
The Han Dynasty learned the lesson of the demise of the Qin Dynasty and began to practice the rule of inaction, and the influence of the "Tao" in people's hearts was far-reaching. Therefore, in terms of artistic techniques, we began to chase the pure beauty of nature. The portrayal of Han figurines is the same, he does not have a large structure and large proportion of meticulous portrayal, just grasped a moment and expression, a few knives, Han figurines often exaggerated shape, but natural simplicity.
From it, you can appreciate the simplicity and atmospheric beauty of the Han figurines.
For example, this "Drumming Rap Figurine", his body proportions will not look like normal people at all, his facial expression is very funny, he stretches his head and shoulders, and his eyebrows are open and smiling. But the craftsmen have captured the big feeling of rapping with their mouths open and half squatting when rapping, but they have made this "Drumming rap figurine" natural and vivid, falling generously.
This atmosphere is different from the atmosphere of the Qin figurines, and the height ratio of the Qin figurines is close to that of the real people, so it is relatively large. However, the Han figurines are basically kept at about 60-70cm, but such a proportion does not give people a cramped feeling, but appears to be generous.
And this sense of generosity comes from the craftsman's grasp of the big feeling.
Drumming rap figurines
3. The influence of cultural concepts and historical environment
If we compare the figurines of the Qin and Han dynasties, we will find that the figurines of the Qin Dynasty period are magnificent, and a large number of military figurines appear in the Qin tombs. But there are many scenes of daily life in the tombs of the Han Dynasty.
The qin dynasty terracotta warriors have two meanings: "to show the martial arts before death" and "to defend the emperor after death", and "to defend the emperor after death" is more important than "to show the martial arts before death". But the Han Dynasty is different, and the Han Dynasty figurines are more just to show "the martial arts and glory of the living".
Because of this, we can find more life-like scenes in the tombs of the Han Dynasty, who want to replicate the appearance of court life. More realistically, the life before death is expressed in the form of figurines. Therefore, we can often see that in addition to soldiers, there will be figurines of female women, eunuch figurines, and even figurines of animals such as chickens, ducks, cows, sheep and pigs in Han tombs.
Moreover, at that time, the living standard was relatively rich, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and people pursued a relaxed feeling.
Under these influences, the artisans have more room to play, and the artistic standards have changed.
When we admire the Han figurines, we can feel the natural beauty brought to us by the Han figurines.
Many Han figurines show the life of the city and folk customs. For example, the following "Labor Figurines"
Labor figurines
This work can be seen as a typical Han Dynasty beauty, she is wearing Hanfu, sitting on her knees on the ground, looking very beautiful, should belong to the beauty of the time. From this Han figurine, we see the life of ordinary people at that time, and this Han figurine should be distributing food such as cooking for guests. These are common scenes in daily life, with a strong breath of life.
These Chinese figurines are the results of the craftsmen's careful observation of life and bold creation in art, and I am very grateful to these unknown craftsmen, and I am also very grateful to see you at the end.
bibliography:
1. Xu Ziang, "On the Application of the Passage Ceremony in the Architectural Design of the Han Figurine Site Museum", Film Review[J] Z1, 2014
2. Xu Shiyun, "Research on the Art of Music and Dance Hundred Drama Figurines in Luoyang in the Han Dynasty", Shanghai University Master's Thesis [D] 2015-01-14
3. Li Shaobin's "Eastern Wu Han Figurines" Oriental Collection [J] 2019.03
4. Xiao Changsheng, "A Brief Analysis of the Art of Romantic Freehand Han Pottery Figurines", Jingdezhen Ceramics [J] 2007.01