Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 9

Eastern Han Dynasty Terracotta Barn Workshop, China '206BC - 220AD' Ex-Museum

$4,375
£3,344.92
€3,852.67
CA$6,130.72
A$6,844.37
CHF 3,586.35
MX$83,781.79
NOK 45,546.63
SEK 42,944.69
DKK 28,752.89

About the Item

Slab pottery constructed barn workshop having a peaked roof – open walled form with a mechanical pounder and a large round covered storage container. Light blue-green mottled glazed surface with some iridescence patina to the glaze. Condition: Intact, excellent condition, an unusual example. Provenance: The Living Torah Museum, Brooklyn; ex. Sands of Time, 2002. Sculptural effigies of domesticated animals were often interred in the tombs of nobility and elite members of the social hierarchy. Models like this one were made to represent everything from simple goat or pig pens to the most elaborate towers and palaces. Because very few ancient Chinese buildings have survived intact, these models, along with descriptions from ancient texts, give a good representation of what the buildings might have looked like. This fantastic piece is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. Burial figurines of graceful dancers, mystical beasts, and everyday objects reveal both how people in early China approached death and how they lived. Since people viewed the afterlife as an extension of worldly life, these figurines, called mingqi, sometimes referred as “spirit utensils” or “vessels of ghosts” disclose details of routine existence and provide insights into belief systems over a thousand-year period. For the first time in Chinese history, we have images of rural and daily life during the Han in the form of contemporary records, numerous ceramic burial items and stone monuments. There is a rich array of hunting scenes, barnyard animals, houses, watchtowers, soldiers, entertainers, even kitchen stoves. Behind the proliferation of grave goods lay a belief in the depiction of both the real world and evolving concepts of heavenly realms and celestial beings. Ultimately, funerary objects such as mingqi worked in concert with other funerary objects, tomb architecture, shrines, and spirit-road sculptures to achieve a goal that exceeded the well-being of the family. According to Confucian doctrine, when every person performed their prescribed social role to perfection, the cosmos would achieve harmony. By ensuring the well-being of the dead, the living promoted accord in the celestial realm and in their own terrestrial existence. The Han Dynasty is one of the great dynasties in Chinese history, encompassing nearly four hundred years of expansion and consolidation which coincided with the period of the Roman republic and empire in the West. It was the second imperial dynasty of China (206 BC–220 AD), preceded by the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered a Golden Age in Chinese history. To this day, China's majority ethnic group refers to themselves as the "Han people”.
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 5 in (12.7 cm)Width: 9 in (22.86 cm)Depth: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)
  • Style:
    Han (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    206 BC - 220 AD
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    San Pedro Garza Garcia, MX
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: CH-1031stDibs: LU3172311015311

More From This Seller

View All
Eastern Han Dynasty Terracotta Model of a Paper Mill , China '206BC - 220AD'
Located in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon
Slab pottery constructed Model of a Paper Mill, in Green and Cream Color Glazed Terracotta having a peaked roof – open walled form with a mechanical pounder and a large round storage container. Light blue-green mottled glazed surface with some iridescence patina to the glaze. The Iridescence is a refraction of the layers on the glass that produces multicolor hues & metallic luster, and only develops after one thousand years of being buried in the ground. An unquestionable mark of antiquity, impossible to falsify. Han Dynasty, dated 206 B.C-220 A.D. Condition: Excellent, wear commensurate with age, an unusual example. This fantastic piece is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. Sculptural effigies of domesticated animals were often interred in the tombs of nobility and elite members of the social hierarchy. Models like this one were made to represent everything from simple goat or pig pens to the most elaborate towers and palaces. Because very few ancient Chinese buildings have survived intact, these models, along with descriptions from ancient texts, give a good representation of what the buildings might have looked like. Burial figurines of graceful dancers, mystical beasts, and everyday objects reveal both how people in early China approached death and how they lived. Since people viewed the afterlife as an extension of worldly life, these figurines, called mingqi, sometimes referred as “spirit utensils” or “vessels of ghosts” disclose details of routine existence and provide insights into belief systems over a thousand-year period. For the first time in Chinese history, we have images of rural and daily life during the Han in the form of contemporary records...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Chinese Han Antiquities

Materials

Terracotta

Ming Dynasty Chinese Countryside Villa - TL Tested
Located in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon
Extremely rare Chinese model of a countryside villa for the royal courtiers and ministries of the Ming Dynasty -1368-1644 AD- showing three guest houses and one main entry. The villa is surrounded by a cuadrangular wall painted with bucolic scenes of garden, mountains, and bamboo forests. The roof tiles are glazed in green enamel with yellow finials – as the ones in the forbidden city – typical from the Ming epoch. Truly a museum piece. The doors swivel and are painted in ochre. State of preservation: impeccable mint condition with original paintings, all of the original parts are complete, except for one house which is missing part of the plinth (broken during transport). Each part has been tested for authenticity, consisting of eight separate TL tests...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Chinese Ming Antiquities

Materials

Terracotta

Elegant Han Dynasty Terracotta Warrior - China '206 BC - 220 AD'
Located in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon
Impressive terracotta warrior representing a banner bearer gripping a wooden staff with his hands (dematerialized through the ages); his gaze is ser...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Chinese Han Antiquities

Materials

Terracotta

Tang Dynasty Court Official in Sancai Glazed Robes, China '618-907' - TL Tested
Located in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon
A Tang dynasty sancai (three color) glazed pottery model of a Taoist official, TL tested by Ralf Kotalla - worldwide oldest private laboratory specialized for genuine thermoluminesce...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Chinese Tang Antiquities

Materials

Terracotta

Monumental Han Dynasty Terracotta Horse - TL Tested - China, '206 BC–220 AD'
Located in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon
A massive pottery horse with separately made head and tail, standing on all fours and striding with its right hoof forward. Extended snout ends in parted lips showing teeth beneath i...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Chinese Han Antiquities

Materials

Terracotta

Chimera (Pixiu) Terracotta Mythological Being - Tang Dynasty, China '618-907 AD'
Located in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon
Magnificent Mythological Being "Chimera" with Human Face and Flaming Rays Halo. Orange Terracotta with Traces of Stucco and Painting. This creature is commonly known as Pixiu. Fierc...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Chinese Tang Antiquities

Materials

Terracotta

You May Also Like

Milling Shed pottery with Green Glaze, Eastern Han Dynasty
Located in seoul, KR
Made from the standard orange earthenware body of Han green glazed tomb models, this miniature milling station features a circular millstone and a foot...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Hong Kong Han Antiquities

Materials

Earthenware, Pottery

Funerary Model of a Granary, Han dynasty
Located in seoul, KR
Cylindrical vessel on three animal-shaped feet (dragon or snake), wall with profile grooves, roof. pottery with green lead glaze. "Iridescence" is observed in surface. Period : Han...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Hong Kong Han Antiquities

Materials

Pottery

Han Dynasty, A Set of Antique Chinese Pottery Stove
Located in Sampantawong, TH
A set of antique Chinese pottery stove. Age: Chinese, Han Dynasty, B.C. 206 - A.D. 220 Size: Height 18.5 C.M. / Width 9.8 C.M. / Length 19.4 C.M. Condition: Well-preserved old buria...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Chinese Antiquities

Materials

Pottery

Funerary Model of a Granary, Han dynasty
Located in seoul, KR
Cylindrical vessel on three animal-shaped feet (dragon or snake), wall with profile grooves, roof. Ceramic with green transparent glaze. "Iridescence" is observed in surface. Period...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Hong Kong Han Antiquities

Materials

Stoneware

Chinese Han Dynasty Stoneware Storage Vessel
Located in Astoria, NY
Chinese Han Dynasty Stoneware Storage Vessel, with two applied animal form handles. 10" H x 12.5" Diameter. Provenance: From the Upper East Side Apartment of a Former Ambassador.
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Ceramics

Materials

Stoneware

Chinese Terracotta Tomb Figure East Han Dynasty
Located in Atlanta, GA
A small Chinese terracotta tomb figure (Ni Yong) from East Han dynasty (25-220 AD), likely from the area of nowadays Sichuan. It depicts a sitting male wit...
Category

Antique 15th Century and Earlier Chinese Han Ceramics

Materials

Terracotta