WESTERN JIN DYNASTY

Details

A Yueyao funerary jar
Western Jin dynasty
The ovoid body applied with fish, lions and masks, the upper section modelled with figures and flying birds between roof tops and surmounted by a central roof topped by a bird with outstretched wings, the glaze of crackled pale olive-green tone, one bird restored, chip
41 cm. high

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Lot Essay

For a discussion of funerary jars, compare Margaret Medley, The Chinese Potter, Oxford, 1989, p. 65 ff., and Mino and Tsiang, Ice and Green Clouds, pp. 74-77; in the exhibition catalogue of Art of the Six Dynasties: Centuries of Change and Innovation, China Institute in America, New York, October 29-February 1, 1976, p. 25, where the purpose of these jars is discussed; Wai-kam Ho is quoted saying that hunping (urn of the soul) seems an accurate name for these vessels, since they were used for burials without bodies to provide a symbolic repository for the soul. Another interpretation by William Watson connects the architecture and figures with the Daoist Immortals and the Western paradise popular on mirrors in the Eastern Han.

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