Page 499 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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A group of twelve painted pottery zodiac the Han dynasty. The appearance of certain animals
animals played an important role in Chinese beliefs regard-
ing omens and portents and reflected a complex
3
Height 38.5 (15 Vs)-41.5 (16 A)
Han
Tang Dynasty, eighth century CE and evolving system of belief that spanned the into
of Disunity, and
dynasty, through
the
Period
From an unnamed tomb in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
Tang dynasty.
Shaanxi History Museum, Xi'an The origin of the twelve animals of the Chinese
zodiac, however, remains somewhat obscure. Their
This group of figures, representing the twelve ani- earliest appearance as funerary sculptures in north-
mals of the zodiac, reportedly was excavated in 1955 ern Chinese tombs dates to the latter part of the
from a Tang dynasty site in Xi'an. Little has been Six Dynasties period (sixth century). Almost all
published about the circumstances in which they early examples represent human bodies, in kneeling
were found, and little comparative material exists position, with animal heads; no full set has yet
to define the nature of the tomb or the status of been found in a tomb from that period. The earliest
the individual for whom they were made. Although known twelve-piece sets date from the Tang dynasty
painted rather than glazed (glaze was the preferred but are relatively rare; sets of zodiac animals be-
finish of higher-status sancai pottery), the scale come common only later in the Tang dynasty and
and quality of the objects suggests that they were during the Song period. These figures from Xi'an
made for a member of the middle ranks of the are unusual in their depiction of standing figures;
Tang aristocracy. their height as well distinguishes them from other,
Numerology and astrology have been an inte- contemporary examples.
gral to Chinese culture from at least the beginnings Some scholars have theorized that sets of
of its written history. Associations of animals with zodiac animals appeared in northern China as a
directions, times of the year, certain constellations, result of contact with western and Central Asian
and specific qualities were central in iheyinyang peoples. Certainly, the animal zodiac constituted
wuxing (Yin and Yang and Five Elements) beliefs of a well-developed iconographical element in these

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