Reliefs are a form of sculpting where pictures are chiseled into the surface of brick or stone to create something that resembles a combination of both painting and reliefs. This particular art form was used in ancestral halls and tombs as architectural decorations, although most are found on brick walls in tombs.

Brick and stone reliefs, which emerged in the Warring States period (475-221BC), enjoyed some development in the Qin Dynasty (221-207BC) and became very popular in the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220), although they declined later on.

In the Han Dynasty, brick and stone reliefs often served as funeral offerings because they were much cheaper and easier to produce than stone carvings. What's more, these reliefs last longer than ink-painted murals and have a three-dimensional effect.

Han Dynasty brick and stone reliefs applied traditional Chinese stone engraving techniques to develop a new school of sculpting. Most of these reliefs reflect scenes of the daily life of the Han aristocracy -- their court life with gamblers and musicians, hunting and excursions -- as well as detailed scenes of peasant life during the harvest and scenes depicting artisans and craftsmen at work. The works are important to researching the architecture, lives, customs and ideology of the Han Dynasty.

Since the black clay brick bas-reliefs do not reveal the details very clearly, Chinese artists and scholars have reproduced the scenes by laying a sheet of paper on the brick and rubbing the protruding part of the brick with an ink tampon.

As a sculptural form, brick and stone reliefs form a connection between the preceding bronzeware of the Qin Dynasty and the ensuing sculptures of the Jin (265-420) and the Southern and Northern dynasties (420-581).

Due to its wide-ranging subjects and varied ways of expression, brick and stone reliefs are very valuable for academic research and artistic appreciation; they are precious materials for researching and studying customs, architecture, sculpture and painting, as well as the development of the arts in ancient China.

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