Animal Imagery in Eastern Han Tomb Reliefs from Shanbei 陝北

Abstract

Wild and fantastical animals climb, fly, scamper, and prance across pictorial stone carvings decorating Eastern Han tomb doors in northern Shaanxi. Alongside dragons and other mythical animals, bears felicitously dance, tigers grin opening their mouths to roar, and other wild animals frolic in swirling cloudscapes. While the same animals can be found in Eastern Han tomb reliefs and mortuary art in other regions, their frequency, emphasis on plasticity and movement, and combination with the yunqi 雲氣 motif are unique to the region. Originating in a hybrid style of art that was created during the Mid-Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE), their significance was dependent not so much on any individual creature but on their display as an assemblage of shared forms, behaviors, and habitats. This paper explores how Eastern Han patrons and artists in Shanbei reinvigorated such imagery. It argues that on tomb doors through the region, these same wild and fantastical animals have become a key element of compositions meant to pacify the potentially dangerous realms that awaited the deceased in their postmortem ascension to Heaven (tian 天).

1. Introduction

Wild and fantastical animals climb, fly, scamper, and prance across pictorial stone carvings (huaxiang shi 畫像石) decorating Eastern Han tomb doors in Shanbei (northern Shaanxi; see map Figure 1). Alongside dragons and other mythical animals, bears felicitously dance, tigers grin as they open their mouths to roar, and camels, deer, mountain goats, foxes, boar, and other wild animals appear in swirling cloudscapes. Anatomically distinct and naturally rendered, at the same time, these animals twist and turn in linear movements that are unrelated to the real action of bodies in space (Shih 1960a, p. 187). While these animals can be found in Eastern Han tomb reliefs and mortuary art in other regions, their frequency, emphasis on plasticity and movement, and combination with a swirling Han decorative motif, meant to suggest clouds and/or qi 氣 (pneuma/spirit), is unique to the region.

These animal forms originated in a hybrid style of art created during the Mid-Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE) that merged Central Asian, Steppe, and Warring States (ca. 475 BCE–221 BCE) traditions and whose significance was dependent not so much on any individual creature, but on their display as an assemblage of shared forms, behaviors, and habitats.1 Living in the borderlands between the Han and Xiongu Empires, Eastern Han patrons and artists in Shanbei reinvigorated such imagery in their tombs where wild and fantastical animals took pride in place. As a group, these animals served as an important component of a pictorial program designed to aid the deceased in their posthumous journey and transformation to the immortal.2 In what follows, I will first provide an overview of the characteristics of Eastern Han tombs and tomb reliefs from Shanbei and the Western Han imagery from which the depictions of wild and fantastical fauna in Shanbei are derived. Then, I will show the ways in which these animals were a key component of compositions that were meant to pacify the potentially dangerous realms that awaited the deceased on their ascent to Heaven (tian 天).

2. Eastern Han Tombs in Shanbei

In the late first and early second centuries CE, civil and military officials, wealthy merchants, and landowners living in the north of the modern province of Shaanxi commissioned tombs decorated with stone carved reliefs.3 Today this mountainous area is called Shanbei and lies at the edge of the Ordos Basin and the Loess Plateau (Figure 1). From what little is known of individual patrons, most were stationed there, or their families had at some time here, removed from the interior of the Han Empire, and were a minority among other groups living in the area that served as a buffer zone between the Han and Xiongnu Empires. Tomb relief production in Shanbei spanned from roughly the 90s until 140 when the Han government lost control of the region.

Eastern Han tombs decorated with stone reliefs in Shanbei are either single or double-chambered, with a small corridor (yongdao 甬道) between the tomb door and the adjacent tomb chamber. The simple single-chambered tombs are small with barrel-vaulted ceilings (quan ding 券頂), while double-chambered tombs have two rooms aligned on a central axis. The first room typically has a domed ceiling (qionglong ding 穹窿頂), while the rear is barrel-vaulted. The largest double-chambered tombs also have one or two barrel-vaulted side chambers attached to the left and/or right sides of the front room (Wang 2001, pp. 220–21) (Figure 2).

One unique aspect of tomb construction in the region is that stones with pictorial carvings were only used to construct the doorways and entranceways between some of the inner chambers, while the rest of the tomb was made of bricks. A standard tomb doorway was composed of five stone slabs: one lintel and two side and door panels (Figure 3). Typically, a lintel and two side panels framed the entranceways in the interior of multi-chambered tombs. Reliefs were modularly constructed, with stone carvers developing a set repertoire of motifs, which through the use of stencils and other means, were replicated and recombined in different tombs (Barbieri-Low 2007, pp. 91–92; Li 2019, pp. 77–79; Ruitenbeek 2008, pp. 152–53).4

A range of animals populates the reliefs carved by these artisans. In scenes that depict daily life, cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, dogs, camels, elephants, and trained raptors are helpers and/or sources of food for the deceased in representations of agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting, and chariot and horse processions.5 Most of these animals fall within the general category of the six domesticated animals liu chu 六畜 (horse, ox, sheep, chicken, pig, and dog) mentioned in pre-Han and Han texts (Sterckx 2006) and are commonly depicted in Eastern Han tomb reliefs and molded bricks. Depictions of animal husbandry and representations of camels and trained falcons are more regionally specific, probably reflecting the local ecology and traditions. Even more common and distinctive to the region are an assembly of wild and fantastical animals: deer, bear, camels, foxes, mountain goats, owls, tigers, wild boar, tianma 天馬 (winged horses), dragons, qilin 麒麟 (a one-horned creature), and assorted hybrids.6 These animals appear regularly in small and large groups in multiple compositions on the side panels and lintels decorating the doorways to tombs throughout the region.

The panels decorating a tomb door from Qingjian 清澗, Shaanxi, are representative of the pictorial design on many of the entrances to Eastern Han tombs in the region. On the lintel and the outer portion of about two-thirds of the side panels, and forming a frame for the rest of the decoration, bears, cranes, qilin, foxes, and tigers frolic among and/or their bodies are merged with an undulating line with cloud-like projections: a version of the yunqi 云氣 motif, popular in Han art (Munakata 1991, pp. 20–21). These lines trail upwards on either side of the door frame and stretch across its lintel, on either side of which are round circles representing the sun and moon. These animals are also joined by avian–human hybrids called xian (immortals). In Shanbei, the undulating line in which animals climb and are entwined may have craggy mountain-like appendages or, as in this particular example, have extensions reminiscent of depictions of lingzhi 靈芝: an immortality-granting fungus that is also depicted in the region and is common in Han art (Powers 1983, pp. 287–88).

Across the lower portion of the lintel, a winged hybrid, dragon, tianma 天馬 (lit. “heavenly horse; a mythical winged horse), and qilin are framed by two mounted archers; one turns his back in his saddle to take aim at a tiger while the other faces forward toward a bird, deer, and fox. On the right-side panel, Xiwangmu 西王母 (the Queen Mother of the West), a deity who presides over an immortal paradise, sits atop a pedestal-shaped mountain. The organic lines and form of the pedestal’s support are also suggestive of lingzhi. On the left side of the panel, atop a similarly shaped mountain, two immortals sit on either side of a mounded, unidentifiable object.7 Lingzhi sprouts from the sides of the winding pedestal, and a fox and deer frolic on either side of the two smaller mountains. Below the carvings, two-door guardians/officials stand facing the door, and below them are depictions of mountain-shaped incense burners (boshanlu 博山爐), with lingzhi growing out of their basins. Finally, on the door panels themselves, two zhuque 朱雀 (vermillion birds) perch on pushou 鋪獸: a type of monster mask often depicted on real knockers, below which a winged tiger and dragon stand facing one another.8

3. Western Han Precedents: Depictions of a Harmonious Imperium

The wild and fantastical animals that appear on this door and in other tomb reliefs from Shanbei originated in a style of art that emerged during the Western Han, which was a mixture of Central Asian, Steppe, and regional Warring States period traditions (Kost 2017; Miller 2018; Pirazzoli-t’Serstevens 1994, 2008; Rawson 1989; Rawson 1983, pp. 37–45; Rawson 2006; Psarras 2019). Within this new visual idiom, real and fantastical animals are depicted in motion, often with a high degree of naturalism, while at the same time blurring the boundaries between the known and the imaginary. Concurrently animals also became symbols of human qualities, exotic places, or signs of divine approval or disapproval. Based on the idea of the power of the Han emperor and bureaucracy to order both the animal and human worlds, objects depicting wild and fantastical animals brought into three-dimensional form a utopian vision of many cultures and creatures living in harmony under the Han Empire. Through the use of seriation, distinctive popular designs echoing this general theme were created in the imperial workshops spread out across the empire, inspiring copies made by local workshops (Miller 2018).

The depiction of animals on two surviving types of objects created during this period—bini 俾倪chariot fittings and mountain-shaped censers—provide strong visual precedents for the animals depicted in Eastern Han tombs from Shanbei. Bini were large decorative fittings that reinforced permanent joints on ceremonial chariots, which were buried with members of the imperial family or others of high rank. On a bini excavated in Sanpanshan 三盤山, Hebei, from the tomb of a king of the Zhongshan state (ca. 90 BCE), real and fantastical animals playfully tumble in a fabulous landscape of swirling clouds: a motif which developed out of patterns on lacquers and textiles from the state of Chu 楚 (704–223 BCE). They are joined by foreign people, including figures riding on an elephant, a mounted archer, and a man riding a camel (Figure 4). In the four registers, deer, rabbits, foxes, and mountain goats climb, perch on, or leap from an undulating line, or the line’s craggy mountain-like extensions bears rest or strike various poses, and tigers appear singularly in scenes of combat, or as the mounted archer’s prey. Fantastical creatures include a large dragon and phoenix, a tianma, a bixie 辟邪 (a winged hybrid), and early depictions of xian. The motif of the mounted archer, the profusion of tigers, and the figures on the camel and elephant all reference and/or are adapted from visual cultures to the north, south, and west of the Han Empire (Wu 1984; Rawson 1983; Benningson 2005, p. 347). By the time this chariot ornament was cast, the decorative pattern of wild and fantastical animals and the yunqi cloud motif was quickly becoming ubiquitous across media (for lacquer objects, see Powers 1983, pp. 286–88).9

Additionally, appearing in the mid-Western Han are mountain-shaped censers (boshanlu), which transform the yunqi and animal motif into three-dimensional forms (Munakata 1991, p. 29) (Figure 5).10 These bowl-shaped vessels have conical tops with holes that allow for the release of smoke. Typically, the peaks that make up the top of the censer have several clearly demarcated secondary hills with “space cells” in which humans and animals are depicted. A mountain censer that provides a good sense of animal imagery emerging from the imperial workshops comes from the tomb of Lady Dou Wan 竇綰 (ca. 113 BCE), who was a consort of Prince Liu Sheng 劉勝 and a member of the Han imperial family. Sitting in the midst of a round basin, a smiling, half-clad figure sits on a hybrid animal while holding the censer aloft. Four large animals prance across the belly of the censer: a dragon, camel, bird, and tiger; their bodies are intertwined in swirling lines.11 Within the space cells above are scenes of animal combat, animal–human combat, and a man leading a cart; a lone tiger and bear can be found in the craggy folds of the mountain.12 As in the case of the decoration on the bini, the style of the depiction, as well as the motifs of the camel, animal combat, and the man leading a cart, are derived from the visual culture of groups living along the northwestern frontier of the Han Empire (Rawson 2006, pp. 80–81).13

A comparison of the imagery on the Sanpanshan bini to an Eastern Han tomb lintel from Mizhi 米脂, Shaanxi, demonstrates how wild and fantastical the animals in Eastern Han tomb reliefs are from Shanbei, possessing analogous animal forms, behaviors, and environments. On the lintel, a tiger, dragon, deer, foxes, owl, crane, and other birds and animals inhabit a swirling cloudscape. They are joined by a xian and a rabbit pounding the elixir of immortality: an addition to the earlier repertoire of animals on the bini connected to the Han immortality cult. The tops of the two side panels depict a raven and a frog in circles, animals that were said to live in the sun and moon, respectively, and imply that the action is taking place in Heaven. The form of the animals on the lintel, similar to those on the bini, suggests plasticity and movement, with the animals intertwining or mimicking the yunqi motif. In addition, many have the same friendly demeanor that Miller (2018, p. 92) has noted regarding Western Han bear mat weight sculptures, which she describes as “soft, almost smiling, even as they growl at their audiences.” In Shanbei, tigers possess a similar quality and are depicted wagging their tails and smiling as they roar (Figure 3 and Figure 6).

Based on reliefs with some surviving pigments, stone carvings from Shanbei also demonstrate a shared interest in polychromatic surface decoration and ornamental patterns with their Western Han predecessors (Miller 2018, 2022).14 Some of this is suggested by the stripes on the body of the tiger on the lintel from Mizhi: details which were further accentuated with paint in other reliefs in the region. This interest in surface decoration and ornament is also seen in reliefs that depict the yunqi and animal motif as the background for larger figures—as can be seen on the west wall in the Yanjiacha tomb (Figure 7; this is the same tomb whose plan appears in Figure 2).

4. Harmonious Postmortem Realms

As Dramer (2002) has demonstrated in a study of tombs from Henan and Shandong, Eastern Han carved doorways functioned as key elements for organizing and regulating mortuary rituals and social initiations between the living and the dead. While this is most likely also the case in Shanbei, the imagery on the doorways on which these wild and fantastical animals appear suggests a strong emphasis on the journey and postmortem transformation of the deceased. The truncated nature of the pictorial program of tombs in Shanbei blurs our understanding of the deceased’s final destination but suggests that the tomb could have been viewed as a place of transcendence, a way station, or Heaven itself, with the tomb door functioning as a passageway through which the deceased could freely enter/exit (Tseng 2011, pp. 225–32; Hu 2006, pp. 102–3).

In this understanding, the motif of wild and fantastical animals, with or without yunqi, performs two basic functions depending on their placement around the door or passageway. The overall composition on the outer portion of the side panels suggests ascendance as if the deceased is floating upward on currents of swirling qi. Here, wild and fantastical animals could potentially serve as guides, or they may indicate the harmonious nature and secure safe passage during the deceased’s journey (Figure 3, Figure 4, and Figure 6). The lingzhi-shape of the yunqi motif in some tombs further suggests the deceased’s ascension and transformation in the paradise of Xiwangmu or Heaven.15

In the inner portion of the panels framing the door, wild and fantastical animals are also key components in representations of the world of immortals/and or Xiwangmu and her consort Dongwanggong 東王公 (King Father of the East), who is depicted sitting on top of pedestal-like mountains (see the side panels in Figure 3).16 Here, we find birds, bears, deer, foxes, owls, qilin, tianma, and tigers cavorting on or hovering around their central peaks. On some door panels, a dragon also emerges from below, encircling the central pedestal/mountain peak, which similar to the vertical composition of yunqi on the same side panels, also suggests ascension. Rather than snarling and threatening predators and hybrid monsters, wild and fantastical animals in both compositions are symbolic of the transformation of the unknown, and of potentially hazardous postmortem worlds, into harmonious spaces free of danger.17

At the same time, the animal and yunqi patterns continue on many lintels, which include images of the sun and moon, transferring this felicitous imagery into the heavens (Figure 3 and Figure 6).18 On some tomb doors in the lower portion of the lintel, wild and fantastical animals also appear either parading/prancing with xian or as part of hunting scenes. For example, the lower part of the lintel of the tomb of Wang Deyuan 王得元 (d. 101), excavated in Suide, depicts a winged dragon/tiger hybrid, bixie, qilin, phoenix, and various birds parading left with a xian holding lingzhi at the front of the procession. Stalks of lingzhi separate the animals, and the scene ends with a rabbit pounding on the elixir of immortality (see Zhongguo huaxiang shi quanji 2000, vol. 5: Figure 74). Although elements of this imagery, such as the way lingzhi is depicted, are unique to the region, the basic motif of auspicious animals and immortals is common in other Eastern Han tomb reliefs as well.

What is more unique to the region is the popularity of hunting scenes on the lower portion of lintels and the frequency with which they include or are combined with fantastical animals, suggesting a potential conflation of the significance of hunting imagery and depictions of these animals in otherworldly scenes in Shanbei. We can see this in the doorway in Figure 3, where two mounted archers take aim at a tiger, fox, and bird, flanking several mythical animals, including a tianma, dragon, and qilin. On this relief, the wild and fantastical animals could be read as two separate categories—prey and auspicious imagery—but other reliefs in Shanbei blur such a simple dichotomy. For example, on a lintel from a tomb in Mizhi, the deceased couple appears in a pavilion in the center of the composition. Their wings, the turtle and raven on either side of the pavilion (symbolizing the sun and moon), and two immortality motifs—a fox and a hare pounding the elixir of immortality—are signs of the deceased’s transcendence in Heaven. On either side of the pavilion, two hunters turn backward in their saddle and take aim at a deer and a horned, long-tailed ungulate; a third archer appears on foot on the lower left shooting up toward the ungulate. Both of the mounted archers have bear-like ears and do not appear to be human; the one on the right rides a two-horned dragon–tiger hybrid (Figure 8). While more ubiquitous scenes may be included to represent a pastime that the deceased can enjoy in the afterlife, compositions such as this one suggest that hunting scenes take on additional meanings and functions in the ascension of the deceased and may have been included as a supplementary safeguard against the dangers that awaited the deceased in the afterlife (Wallace 2010).

5. Conclusions

Wild and fantastical animals populate the carved lintels and side panels of Eastern Han tomb doors in Shanbei as important transition zones between the world of the living and the dead and potential portals through which the deceased could pass to and from the tomb. Often climbing and/or merging with the yunqi motif, the treatment of the animals’ bodies, interest in their movement, and the felicitous world in which they are important components are based on a hybrid artform that emerged in the mid-Western Han as an expression of an expanding and harmonious empire. Although elements of their depiction were originally derived from Central Asian and Steppe art, by this time, these animal forms would have been “domesticated” and played an important role in the ascension and transformation of the deceased, insuring their safe passage into the beyond. The preference for such imagery in these tombs may roughly be based on two circumstances: a nostalgia for the Han imperial past (Wallace 2018) and a familiarity with non-Chinese visual traditions due to their geographical location. At times these “Others”—the various groups of unfamiliar peoples amidst which the Han colonists lived—may have been conflated with the dangers awaiting the deceased (Wallace 2011b). The choice to adopt earlier animal forms and compositions insured that even these potentially dangerous challengers were subsumed into the harmonious worlds awaiting the deceased.