(206BCE-220CE) The Han Period saw major developments: civil service and government structure was organized; paper, water clocks, seismographs and sundials measuring time were invented; music descriptions were compiled, histories, poetry and other important books were written, and lacquerware and woven silk were created. During the Han Dynasty, mingqi, or burial earthenware ceramics were used to be placed in tombs to serve the deceased.
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Wing or ear cups (yushang), a term that describes its side flange-like additions to its ovoid body, appeared as early as the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BCE) made in lacquer and later from a variety of materials. Lacquerware cups were used as dining vessels used for rituals and ceremonies contain fragrances, food or wine; and the…
Hu vessels, first made in the Shang Dynasty is an ancient-pottery wine vessel whose body swells in the middle, flares into a narrow neck and often has a raised circular foot. Very popular during the Han dynasty, it was used as an ancestral tomb burial object (mingqi) to hold liquids and elixirs for the deceased…
Mingqi are ancient earthenware pottery items usually made using a bivalve mould and covered with a lead glaze that fired to a dark green. The lead in the glaze often combined with tomb dampness for centuries creating a chemical reaction changing its coloring into a lustrous and iridescent green seen here. Han mingqi were ancestral…
Chinese belt hooks were worn with the hook end on the wearer’s left and fastened to clothing with a button like bronze piece fixed to the belt’s end. Initially only functional, metalwork belt hooks became a symbol of wealth, high status and power by the Han Dynasty. They were made using a variety of materials…
Unglazed earthenware pottery cocoon jars were used extensively during the Han dynasty as mingqi, items made for placement in tombs to comfort the deceased on their journey to the afterlife. These ancient pottery vessels were ancestral objects, part of ancestor worship, made to revere and honor the deceased, fulfill Chinese duties of filial piety, and have…
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