Chinese Han Dynasty Earthenware Vessel

During the Western Han period burial goods and art objects were frequently used in everyday life whilst the person was still living, whereas Eastern Han wares and artworks were usually made exclusively for burial, made specifically to serve the needs of the deceased in the afterlife, and were never used in their daily life whilst they were alive.

Utilitarian vessels resembling this one, if not made for burial would more than likely have been used to hold water or wine.  During the Han dynasty, a myriad of objects were placed inside burial chambers with the departed. Miniature earthenware farm animals, houses, horses, granaries, in fact almost any conceivable object that would have been used in daily life were reproduced in miniature form to accompany the departed soul into the afterlife.

It was believed that these objects would bring the soul of the deceased comfort and a sense of familiarity whilst journeying into and on his arrival into the other life, making it less likely that he or she would remain earthbound or become a hungry ghost (angry ghost).

These funerary objects also called Ming qi, are “brilliant artefacts” or “fearsome artefacts“.

The burial chambers during the Han dynasty period in which the deceased and these objects were placed were also made to resemble a home comparable to the style and size of the walled courtyard homes seen above ground, depending on the status of the person when alive.