Asian Art Study Guide for

Qin & Han Dynasties

Sketch of a Han Dynasty motif by Lampo Leong. The dynamic movement is typical of Han art. Does the exuberance reflect the optimism of this golden age in China?

Required Readings about Han and Qin Dynasties:

"The Ch'in and Han Dynasties," chapter 5 in The Arts of China by Michael Sullivan;

"The Growth and Expansion of Early Chinese Culture through the Han Dynasty; Korea and Japan" in A History of Far Eastern Art by Sherman E. Lee.

Recommended Reading:

"Rational Spirit of Pre-Qin" and "Romanticism of Chu and Han", Chapters 2 and 3 in The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics by Li Zehou;

"Si-ma Qian" and "Lyrics of Chu" in An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911, edited and translated by Stephen Owen;

The First Emperor of China by R.W. L. Guisso, Catherine Pagani with David Miller.

Reading List for other suggestions

Study Questions:

1. Compare a horse from the Han period with a horse from the Tang period, using images from the Internet or from the textbooks. (You might compare the Han horse and rider from the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, with the Tang horse and rider from the Royal Ontario Museum.) Discuss three ways you can tell which is from the Han Dynasty.

2. Read some of the poems written during the Han Dynasty, such as the
two poems from the Nineteen Old Poems of the Han, or the poem about women by Fu Xuan, or a selection from rhyme-prose. Compare the poetry and art of the period. How do both reflect the dynamic spirit and confidence of the age? Be sure to refer to specific images of Han art to illustrate your ideas.

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See on the Web:

The First Emperor" -- artifacts and excavation of the Qin Emperor's tomb, exhibition by the Birmingham Museum of Art;

Terracotta Soldier from Qinshihuang's tomb;

Han figurine of two dancers from collection at the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell;

Han Dynasty terracotta vessel, perhaps an incense burner, in shape of a mountain;

Han bronze lamp;

Rubbing of a Han Dynasty inscription;

Han Dynasty figurines on auction;

Tomb of Liu Wu, third Duke of Chu, in Shixi.

Japanese Haniwa shamaness from collection at Brooklyn Museum of Art;

Japanese Haniwa horse from the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell;

Japanese Haniwa warrior from the images collected by Jean Wetzel for a CalPoly class.

Sketches of Han motifs by Lampo Leong made in the early 1980s.

Readings on the Web:

"The Imperial Era" by Leon Poon includes a short history of the Qin and Han Dynasties with images.

Si-ma Qian (about 145-85 B.C.E.) set the standard for historical writing with his Records  of the Grand Historian. His writings about the Legalist Policies of the Qin and two biographies are available on the Internet through Professor Paul Halsall's site.

Essay on Japanese Haniwa art and resources list compiled by Rebecca Arkenberg.

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