The appearance of horses as a mingqi 冥器 (funerary objects) in burial contexts reflects the desire of having the animal accompany the deceased throughout their journey in the afterlife.1
Ascending to the Heaven 升天成仙画像石
Stone Sculpture | Eastern Han (25-220) | Height 83.5 cm, Width 133.5 cm | Shanghai Museum Collection. 石｜东汉（公元25—220年）｜上海博物馆藏
The stone carving depicts scenes of life and mythology from the Han dynasty. During the Han dynasty, Taoists 2 believed about achieving immortality and the use of symbolic imagery in art and funerary objects.
The carving may have been part of a larger tomb structure, possibly a lintel. The continuous carving from the little column to the face of the stone represents a scene of the tomb master ascending to the Heaven in a carriage, guided by a horse rider. Found in a tomb dating to the middle and late periods of the Eastern Han dynasty, the stone relief suggests its location in Jinan of Shandong Province or its neighbouring area.
During the Han dynasty, processions of chariots shaded by parasols or occasionally by canopies were among the most popular subjects painted, stamped, or carved on the walls of tombs and shrines.3 Often accompanied by riders on horseback, chariots with parasols in particular seem to gallop across the walls of tombs housing high-ranking nobles and officials.
Although the rise of cavalry in the 4th century BC reduced the chariot’s role in warfare, they retained their importance as indicators of rank and wealth.4 A 3rd century BC poetic description of the affluent early Chinese metropolis of Linzi5 in Shandong characterises the populace as enjoying the luxuries not only of chariots, but also of musical instruments, fighting cocks, and games of dice and soccer; the streets of Linzi were “so choked with chariots that the hubcaps struck against one another.” 6
Immortals (xian 仙) are depicted as feathered sprite-like or dragon- or snake-tailed figures climbing stylised mountains or floating in swirling cloudscapes on tomb reliefs. The prevalence of serpentine imagery in the iconography of immortality is related to the Han belief in the power of reptiles to alter their form and their associations with the dao 道, described as “now dragon, now snake” in ancient Chinese texts.7
Eastern Han representations of immortals repeatedly emphasise their liminal nature and close connection to the animal world. Their position betwixt and between physical forms and realms of existence was the basis of their spiritual power, enabling them to assist the deceased in their transcendent journey to paradise.8
Chariot in Shang Dynasty 殷商时期马车
Unearthed in 2004 | Shang Dynasty (~1600BC-1046BC) | Ruins of Yin, Anyang, Henan | Collection of the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of History. 2004年出土｜商（约公元前1600~公元前1046年）｜河南安阳殷墟遗址｜中国历史研究院考古研究所藏
Life-size chariots and their horses were often buried with the dead of noble or royal rank, thus continuing to confer status after death; this practice began in the Shang and continued through the Han dynasty.
Bronze Chariot No. 1 一号铜车马
Bronze | Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) | Dimensions: H: 88 9/16 in (225 cm), Weight: 2339.11 lbs (1,061 kg) | Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum, Lintong, Shaanxi Province, China, Excavated in the Pit of Chariots and Horses, mausoleum complex of Emperor Qin Shihuang (210 BC)
Chariots shaded with parasols appeared in graves as early as the Western Zhou but became more prevalent around the late sixth to early fifth century BCE and were increasingly popular in the Qin (221–206 BC) and Han (206 BC–220 AD) dynasties. These were the most lavishly embellished vehicles, with elegant fittings of gilt bronze and gold and silver inlay.9
Tomb With Murals Depicting Procession Scenes 东汉出行图壁画墓 (Eastern Han)10
Masonry | Eastern Han dynasty (25 – 220) | Discovered 1994 at Xingyuan village, Yanshi district, Luoyang, Henan province | Luoyang Museum of Ancient Tombs Collection. 砖石｜东汉（公元25—220年）｜洛阳偃师杏园村1984年｜洛阳古墓博物馆藏
Unmistakable symbols of wealth and status, these chariots not only maintained the luxurious lifestyle of the deceased but were also thought to carry him on his final journey to the land of the immortals.
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Footnotes:
- Indeed, Chinese belief saw the afterlife as an extension of the worldly life, with mingqi providing a material manifestation of the belief system of a given time period. Buried in tombs since the Warring States (275-221 BC) and popularised during the Han Dynasty (220 BC – AD 220), mingqi endured through the tumultuous Six Dynasty period (AD 220-589) and proliferated during the reunification of China under the Sui (AD 581-618) and Tang (AD 618-918) dynasties. “The Horse in Chinese Art and Culture”, Anastasia, 25th October 2021 https://www.antiquities.co.uk/blog/china-orient/the-horse-in-chinese-art-and-culture/ ↩︎
- 道教是在我国土生土长的本土宗教，创始于东汉时期，流传至今已有1800多年的历史。道教以阴阳五行为其核心教义，在阴阳五行观念的作用下，道教与天干、地支、十二生肖等产生了天然的亲近关系。北京著名的道观白云观中有元辰殿，元辰殿又名“六十甲子殿”，为信徒向本命元辰之神祈福的殿堂。本人出生年称为本命元辰，旧时习俗礼拜本命元辰之星宿神，祈求吉祥如意，名为“顺星”。元辰殿即是礼拜本命元辰星宿神的地方，殿内现存有六十甲子神像。以甲子年为首，六十年内不同年份出生的人都能找到属于自己的本命神。”生肖的源流、排列与信仰”,
12.02 17:17 http://www.cctv.com/geography/news/20021202/25.html ↩︎ - There seem to be two major styles of chariots visible on the walls of the Wu family shrines. One has a parasol or umbrella covering the driver and occupant. The second has what is perhaps technically a canopy because it is anchored to the chariot box by four poles; sometimes this type of canopy occurs with a chariot that has a three-sided enclosure for the occupants. See Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine: The Ideology of Early Chinese Pictorial Art (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1989), p. 57, fig. 30, and the complete set of rubbings of the Wu Family Shrines in the catalogue by Liu et al., Recarving China’s Past (forthcoming). Ceremonial processions of chariots and riders on horseback form an important and integral part of the imagery carved on the stone slabs of the Wu family shrines in Shandong. See also the detail of a chariot procession in a tomb painting from Anping county, Hebei province, published as a copy in Wong, Treasures from the Han, p. 13. These are among the many representations of chariot processions in Han tombs. https://www.asianart.com/exhibitions/shandong/16.html ↩︎
- See Anthony J. Barbieri-Low, “Wheeled Vehicles in the Chinese Bronze Age (c. 2000–741 B.C.),” Sino-Platonic Papers 99 (February, 2000), pp. 1–98, 8 color plates, for a thorough and valuable discussion of the development of chariots in Bronze Age China. ↩︎
- Linzi (Chinese: 臨淄; pinyin: Línzī) was the capital city of the Chinese Qi state. The ruins of the city lie in modern-day Linzi District, Zibo City, Shandong, China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Linzi ↩︎
- See Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period, p. 15. ↩︎
- These passages are found in Lushi chunqiu 14, no. 8 (“Bi yi”) and Huainanzi, vol. 2 (“Chu zhen”). Liu Wendian, Huainan honglie jijie (Taipei: Taiwan shangwu yin shuguan, minguo 57 [1968]) 1.2:36, and Chen Qiyou, Lüshi chunqiu xin jiaoshi (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2002), vol. 1, p. 835. For translation, see John Knoblock and Jefrey Riegel, he Annals of Lü Buwwei (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), pp. 331–32. A similar description occurs in Guanzi 4, chapter 12 (“Shu yan”). Li Xiangfeng, Guanzi jiaozhu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2004), vol. 1, p. 245. For translation, see W. Allyn Rickett, Guanzi: Political, Economic, and Philosophical Essays from Early China, a Study and Translation (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985), vol. 1, p. 218. Cited in Sterckx, Animal and Daemon, pp. 177–78. ↩︎
- https://www.academia.edu/9594959/Betwixt_and_Between_Depictions_of_Immortals_in_Eastern_Han_Dynasty_Tomb_Reliefs ↩︎
- Apparently, the impression of a wooden parasol survived in an early Western Zhou chariot pit at Liulihe in Beijing, but evidence of cast bronze parasol or canopy fittings did not appear until the Eastern Zhou dynasty. Parasols were not necessarily fixed permanently to the chariot; they could be removed or hand-held. See Colin MacKenzie, “From Diversity to Synthesis: New Roles of Metalwork and Decorative Styles during the Warring States and Han Periods,” in Inlaid Bronze and Related Material from pre-Tang China (London: Eskenazi, Ltd., 1991), p. 10. See also Jenny F. So’s entry discussing the bronze cylinder fitting for a chariot canopy inlaid with gold and silver in Miho Museum, South Wing (Shiga: The Miho Museum Catalogue), no. 108, p. 212. ↩︎
- 此墓为砖石结构，由墓道、墓门、前甬道、前堂、后甬道、后室六部分组成。前堂横长方形，弧券顶。壁画绘在前堂，是一幅长12米，宽0.6米的彩绘车骑出行图。此壁画之所以完整保存下来，得益于壁画外部还砌有一堵外墙，上遗留有部分庖厨图，这种方法保存壁画极沟罕见。由随葬铜钱可断定墓葬时代为东汉晚期。 The tomb features a masonry structure and consists of the tomb passage, gate, front aisle, antechamber, rear aisle and rear chamber. The oblong antechamber is covered with an arched ceiling. The mural in the antechamber measures 12 meters long and 60 meters high and depicts the procession scene. The mural remains intact thanks to the protection from the outer wall, on which there is fragments of a cooking scene. Murals have been rarely protected this way. The bronze coins indicated that the tomb was built in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Museum Information Plaque, Mar 2024 ↩︎
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