Chinese Han Dynasty (206 BC- 220 AD) Fort
Stoneware, 22 x 19 x 11 1/2 in.
Collection Everson Museum of Art, The Joseph Rodina Collection

Chinese ceramic sculpture has a history that stretches back more than seven thousand years. Among the most important genres of this art form are the many examples of funerary sculpture discovered in the tombs of ancient China. Figures of people, animals, and strange guardian figures, models of homes, farms and fields were buried with the deceased to serve and sustain them in the afterlife. The custom of producing sculptures as burial objects began in the Shang and the Zhou periods and flourished in the Qin, Han and post-Han dynasties.

During the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), political stability and economic prosperity gave rise to a moneyed, land-owning class that began to imitate the elaborate funerary arrangements that were previously the preserve of emperors and their relatives. A wide variety of objects and figures reflecting the daily life of the Han period were placed in tombs built by wealthy commoners. All aspects of life, from the most serious to the most frivolous, were reproduced in sculptural form.

The agricultural basis of the Eastern Han economy is exemplified by the inclusion of realistic model farm structures in tomb burials, often accompanied by miniature barnyard animals. The Everson's multistoried building may depict a granary, or it may have been arranged with other clay structures to form a residential compound. This two-storied building, simply constructed of clay slabs, has a tile roof and a balcony decorated with geometric motifs supported by brackets. Such realistic details stand in contrast to the imaginative "squatting-bear" feet on which the structure rests.

This work is the gift of Joseph Rondina, of New York City, who, over the past several years, has donated significant examples of ancient Chinese ceramics to the Everson's collection.