The Search for Immortality : Tomb Treasures of Han China

Tiré de : 9 mai 2012, Past Horizons

The Western Han dynasty of China forged the first stable empire across the whole of China during the last two centuries BC and presided over a golden age that shaped much of subsequent Chinese art and culture. From family values to the structure of the civil service, Han thinking and philosophy continue to pervade Chinese society up to the present day – indeed, the majority of Chinese people consider themselves ‘Han Chinese’.

Excavation – Nanyue 3, The King’s Coffin Chamber. Site excavated in 1983. (Photo courtesy of The Museum of the King of Nanyue)

An immortal legacy

In their search for immortality, the Han imperial family left an artistic legacy of spectacular beauty and power. The finest of these treasures to have survived – including exquisite jades, silver and gold work, bronzes and ceramics – have been found in the tombs of the Han imperial family and of a rival ‘emperor’ of Nanyue and are brought together for the first time in a landmark exhibition at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Gold Belt Plaque, 2nd century BC, Western Han Dynasty. Excavated from Shizishan, Xuzhou. (Xuzhou Museum, Jiangsu Province)

The Han Dynasty established the basis for unified rule of China up to the present day. To maintain this hard-won empire the Han emperors had to engage in a constant struggle for power and legitimacy, with contests that took place on symbolic battlefields as much as on real ones. While written accounts provide an outline of these events, it is through the stunning archaeological discoveries of recent decades that the full drama and spectacle of this critical episode in Chinese history has been brought to life.

Terracotta warrior pits from Shizishan. (Photo courtesy of Xuzhou Museum)

Dr Timothy Potts, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, commented: “It is impossible to overstate the importance of the Han Dynasty in the formation of a Chinese national culture and identity.  At the time of the ancient Romans, the Han emperors were the first to unify a large part of the regions we now know as China under a sustained empire, which they ruled virtually unchallenged for 400 years.”

Bitter rivals, brought together for the first time

This exhibition compares the spectacular tombs of two rival power factions: the Han imperial family in the northern ‘cradle’ of Chinese history, and the Kingdom of Nanyue in the south, whose capital in modern-day Guangzhou formed the gateway to the rich trade routes of the China Sea and Indian Ocean.
Archaeology can often unlock what has happened in human history, even when it has not been recorded in writing. Research conducted by Dr James Lin, the exhibition’s curator, and his colleagues at the Fitzwilliam Museum, the University of Cambridge, has provided a much clearer picture of the emperors, kings and shameless pretenders, battling both militarily and symbolically for legitimate power during the Han Dynasty in China two millennia ago.
In the opponents’ minds, these power struggles were destined to last for eternity.  The tomb treasures from the north and south of the empire that were created to propagate this conflict are remarkable – they comprise some of the most fragile glories in history.

Jade ornament with an animal mask, 2nd century BC, Western Han Dynasty. Unearthed at Xianggangshan 1983. (Nanyue Wang Museum, Guangdong Province)

Objects from these tombs have never previously been displayed together as a single exhibition and the story is  revealed how, in both life and in death, Empire and Kingdom played a diplomatic game of cat and mouse, one to assert its supremacy, the other to preserve its autonomy.
Curator of the exhibition, Dr James Lin, commented:  “It is immensely exciting that we are able to compare these unique discoveries from two rival kingdoms for the first time in Cambridge, as the archaeology allows us to tell a story that textual evidence simply does not reveal.”

Rise of the Han

Founded in 206 BC, the Han Dynasty followed the collapse and disintegration of the Qin Empire, which had been established only fifteen years earlier by China’s First Emperor, Qinshihuangdi. Except for a brief interruption in 9-25  AD, the Han emperors were to rule much of China for the next 400 years until 220 AD.
Contemporary with the late Republican and early Roman Empire, the Han Dynasty is considered the ‘classical’ period of Chinese history and between 25 -1BCE had a larger population than the Roman Empire. It saw the emergence  of cultural values, ideologies and institutions which have remained central to Chinese identity ever since. During this period Confucianism, with its emphasis on loyalty to family and to the Emperor, was first adopted as the official ideology.

Stone Lion Weight, 2nd century BC, Western Han Dynasty. Height: 14.5 cm. Unearthed at Shizishan site in 1994. (Xuzhou Museum, Jiangsu Province)

The Chinese people are the largest self-identified ethnic group in the world; they also use the oldest continuous spoken language (which they call ‘Han’ to this day), and writing system.  However, the continuity does not stop there: this Spring, Dr Lin will argue that China’s ‘Golden Age’ started two millennia ago and has never really ended.  Imperial systems of bureaucracy – the strict hierarchal form, the deliberate overlapping of roles and responsibilities maintaining a strong administrative structure, the taking of challenging entrance examinations for the civil service, and even marriage customs – were all widely established during the Han Dynasty continueto this day.
In 196 BC Emperor Gaozu, founder of the Han Dynasty, sent an envoy demanding that Nanyue founding king, Zhao Tuo, submit to his authority.  Zhao Tuo agreed and Nanyue was granted formal status as a vassal state of the Han Empire.
Yet only a year later, having gained the allegiance of two neighbouring states, Zhao Tuo declared himself Emperor. After two years of conflict, Zhao Tuo once more ‘submitted’ to the Han ruler, though both he and his successors continued to style themselves ‘Emperor’ at home, using the lesser title of ‘King’ only in their dealings with the Han court.

Palaces of the afterlife

Protected by clay guardians and surrounded by jade and gold, the monarchs’ tombs were palaces fit for immortals.  Each tomb a symbol of power and majesty, designed to ensure that its owner continued to enjoy the afterlife with the same comforts afforded to them in life.

The exhibition compares the tomb of Zhao Mo, Zhao Tuo’s grandson and successor from the Southern Nanyue kingdom, with the astonishing finds from three of the major northern Han tombs of the kings of Chu, a branch of the imperial family that had been granted this kingdom by the emperor.

The exhibition will reflect the layout of funerary goods within the tombs, giving a sense of what it would have been like to walk through one of these tombs for the first time: being met by tomb guardians, progressing into the principal chambers with pottery servants, musical instruments and other treasures, and finally coming upon the inner sanctum with the burials of the kings themselves.

Pottery Musician, 2nd century BC, Western Han Dynasty. Height: 33 cm Unearthed from Tuolanshan King of Chu tomb 1989. (Xuzhou Museum, Jiangsu Province)

 

Highlights include  two jade burial armour suits belonging to the rival rulers, painstakingly made from thousands of plaques of jade, sewn together with gold or silk thread and  spectacular objects in gold, including imperial seals and exotically decorated belt buckles.  There is also collections of  pottery soldiers, dancers, musicians and servants as well as unusual artefacts including an early ginger grater.

The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China (website)

Conference:

Excavation – Nanyue 3, The King’s Coffin Chamber. Site excavated in 1983. (Photo courtesy of The Museum of the King of Nanyue)

Life and afterlife in Han China Tuesday 2 & Wednesday 3 October: 10.00 to 17.00 at Newnham College

This conference, organised in conjunction with the exhibition, brings together over fifteen leading sinologists and art historians from the UK, the US, continental Europe, as well as mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.  Over the course of two days, scholars will present and discuss papers under four themes: Daily Life in Han Society; Contacts with the Outside World; Preparing for the Afterlife; and Searching for Eternity.

Participants include: Dr Michael Loewe (editor/author of The Cambridge History of Ancient China), Michèle Pirazzoli-t’Serstevens (Professor Emerita of École pratique des hautes études, Paris) and Professor Dame Jessica Rawson (Oxford Centre for Asian Archaeology, Art and Culture).
For prices and to book please e-mail fitzmuseumeducation@lists.cam.ac.uk
Tel. +44 (0)1223 332904

Source: University of Cambridge

More information:

• The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China – main website
• Xuzhou Museum
• Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue Kings
• Fitzwilliam Museum
• Dates: 5 May to 11 November 2012
  Location: The Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RB
  www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk | Telephone. +44 (0)1223 332900
  Admission: FREE
  Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday: 10.00 to 17.00
  Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays: 12.00 to 17.00
  Closed: Mondays, and Good Friday