Han Tomb Figurines
Women Figurines
In Mawangdui Han Tomb, several lady figurines in silk clothes were uncovered.
They were servants to an aristocratic lady Xinzhui, whose body has been so
well-preserved over 2,000 years that researchers were able to perform an autopsy
on her body.
Among those wooden figurines, one was particularly charming. With delicate
makeup, the lady figurine was wearing a smile similar to Mona Lisa. Did the
emperors have such beautiful maids in his palace?
In the caves near Emperor Liu Qi's mausoleum, some special figurines were
discovered. Among them, two naked pottery figurines were without scrotums. They
were probably the earliest image of the palace eunuchs. Eunuchs and court ladies
were responsible for the daily life of emperors in ancient China.
In our imagination, the palace life must be extravagant. But burial figurines
have proved that this might not be true. The concept of richness was quite
different from today's. The 92-meter-long No. 13 cave is the emperor's
storehouse in the afterlife. His most prized possessions were 2,000 animal
pottery figurines, including 231 goats, 33 sheep, 456 dogs and pig, and roosters
and hens.
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