Page 69 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

The Han Dynasty, 206 b.c. to 220 a.d. 19

at every burial of an emperor or king, human images of stoneware

{t'ao jen), implements of earthenware {wa clii), wooden cars, and

straw horses were used."

De Groot ^ quotes a long list of objects supplied for an Imperial
burial of the Later Han (25-220 a.d.), including " eight hampers

of various grains and pease ; three earthen pots of three pints,
holding respectively pickled meat, preserved meat, and sliced food

;

two earthen liquor jars of three pints, filled with must and spirits
;

. . . one candlestick of earthenware ; . . . eight goblets, tureens,
pots, square baskets, Avane jars ; one wash-basin with a ewer ; bells,
. . . musical instruments, . . . arms ; nine carriages, and thirty-

six straw images of men and horses ; two cooking stoves, two kettles,

one rice strainer, and twelve caldrons of five pints, all of earthen-

ware ; . . . ten rice dishes of earthenware, two wine pots of earthen-
ware holding five pints." The use of earthenware substitutes for

the actual belongings of the dead was due in part to the spirit of

economy preached by certain rulers at this time, and in part to the

feeling that graves containing valueless objects would be safe from

the desecration of the robber.

In addition to the general precepts of economy, we learn that

definite regulations were issued prescribing the number and even

the nature of the articles to be used by the various ranks of the

nobility and by the proletariat. Thus in 682 a.d. Kao Tsung

rebuked the competitive extravagance of the people in burial equip-

ments, which even the ravages of famine had failed to diminish
;

and in the K'ai Yiian period an Imperial decree ^ of the year 741

A.D. reduced the number of implements allowed to the various ranks

in burial, officers of the first, second, and third classes of nobility

being allowed seventy, forty, and twenty implements in place of

ninety, seventy, and forty respectively ; while for the common

people fifteen only were permitted. Moreover, all such implements

were to be of plain earthenware {ssu wa), wood, gold, silver, copper,

and tin being forbidden.
It is clear that at an early date wood was regarded as prefer-

able to pottery as a material for sepulchral furniture, for the Yin-
yang tsa tsu,^ written in the eighth century, states that " houses

and sheds, cars and horses, male and female slaves, horned cattle,

and so forth, are made of wood." Indeed, the decree of 741 not-

withstanding, wood seems to have become the standard material

^ De Groot, loc. cit., p. 401. * Loc. cit., p. 696. ^ loc. cit., p. 808.