CAEA - Center for the Art of East Asia

Reinventing the Past: Antiquarianism in East Asian Art and Visual Culture—Part 1

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Reinventing the past, inventing a dynasty: Inspiration, monuments of the past and the consolidation of Tang dynastic legitimacy
Tonia Eckfeld
Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for the Art of East Asia, University of Chicago

From the outset of the Tang dynasty (618-907), the Tang emperors looked to the tombs of the Western Han emperors as symbols of dynastic longevity. These antique tombs became sources of inspiration and models for the imperial mausoleum complexes built for the Tang imperial ancestors and for the early Tang emperors themselves. Elements of the location, form and decoration of the Western Han imperial tombs were consciously paralleled to express Tang dynastic aspirations.

The Tang capital, Chang'an, was located in the vicinity of two former dynastic capitals - Xianyang of the Qin (221 BC-206 BC), and Chang'an of the Western Han (206 BC-9 AD). The monumental tomb mound of Qin Shihuangdi (258-210 BC) stood at Lintong, to the east of Tang Chang'an. The Western Han dynasty had built colossal tombs for its twelve rulers with accompanying tombs for their empresses - nine of these stood in commanding positions on the tablelands to the north of the capital beyond the Wei River, with the others located to Tang Chang'an's south-east. While the Qin dynasty produced a magnificent mausoleum complex for only one emperor, the tombs of the Western Han emperors were testimonies to the longevity their dynasty had enjoyed. To the early Tang rulers, these enduring, highly visible and impressive monuments to the grandeur and power of the Chinese emperors of the past seemed worthy of emulation in order to create symbols reflecting their own dynastic ambitions.

The Jiu Tang shu records that when the first Tang emperor, Gaozu (Li Yuan, 566-635, r. 618-626), came to power, he elevated his grandfather and father with the posthumous status of emperors (Jinghuangdi and Yuanhuangdi, respectively) and ordered the construction of imperial mausolea for them. Xingningling, of his father, was built in 618 in close proximity to Changling, the tomb of the first Han emperor, Gaozu (Liu Bang, r. 206-195 BC). The proximity of Xingningling to Changling suggests that it was Gaozu's intention to glorify his own family as the source of state power and to boldly declare his intention that his father be seen as the well spring of a long period of dynastic succession like Han Gaozu. The Jiu Tang shu also records that on his deathbed, Gaozu gave the instruction that the army should learn from the Han in construction of his tomb complex, and that after his death Tang Taizong (Li Shimin, 599-649, r. 626-649) gave the imperial edict to 'build an emperor's mausoleum with mound, using the Han Changling as the standards. When it came to Taizong's own tomb, Zhaoling, where his Empress Zhangsun was buried before him in 636, the imposing principal peak of Jiuzong Mountain was selected as the site. This was done with reference to the ancients' advantageous use of mountains for tombs. Baling (of Wendi, Liu Heng, r. 179-157 BC, and his Empress Xiao Wendou, in the suburbs of Xi'an) shows the precedent - Baling is built inside a mountain.

The Western Han imperial tombs served as models which influenced the Tang in terms of their external form. The Western Han imperial mausoleum complexes consisted of a colossal primary truncated pyramidal mound, usually square, but sometimes, rectangular, of rammed earth, beneath which the emperor's body was laid to rest inside specially dug and decorated chambers. They had numerous pits filled with burial objects, ancillary buildings for ritual activities at the site, as well as walls, gateways, and processional paths. Towns were built near emperors' mausoleum complexes during the Western Han period their proximity assisting with the protection and maintenance of the site. This characteristic was paralleled in the Tang with residential sectors within the complex for the maintenance of the imperial cemeteries. Each of the Western Han emperors' tombs had an accompanying tomb nearby for his empress, with a mound on a grand but slightly smaller scale than his own. Excavations at Yangling, the tomb of the Han Emperor Jingdi (Liu Qi, r. 156-141 BC), demonstrate that his tomb had an extensive cemetery for nobles, officials, and their families in front of the tomb on either side of the processional path. Its presence is probably indicative of the more widespread practice of the attendant burial of notaries at imperial mausolea in the Han, a practice followed at a number of the early Tang imperial mausolea. Large stone sculptures of men, animals and mythical beasts were included at the mausoleum complex Maoling of the Han Emperor Wudi (Liu Che, r. 140-87 BC) and its attendant tombs, and became a standard feature at all Tang emperors' tombs.

The Tang drew upon, continued and refined the characteristics of the Western Han emperors' tombs, derived in part from direct inspiration and in part received through the succession of tomb lineage in the intervening centuries. The Tang did develop their own unique modes, however. Where the Han tombs were set out on an east-west axis, with the primary tomb mound to the west facing to the east, the Tang tombs were built on a north-south axis with the primary tomb mound to the north and orientated toward the south, for example. Where the Han empresses were buried in their own tombs with mounds adjacent to the emperors' tombs, it was the custom for the Tang emperors and their consorts to be buried conjointly in a single mausoleum. Tomb statuary and external layout came to be well standardized under the Tang in the late seventh century. As a result, Tang tombs became new grand statements about the Chinese empire and the Tang dynasty, its rulers and members of its ruling class, and aspects of Tang society. The archetypal layout and statuary of Qianling became the standard for later Tang imperial tombs and for the imperial tombs of subsequent dynasties.

The mural paintings and ceramic mortuary wares of the tomb interiors of members of the Tang imperial family reveal subject matter which persisted from the Han period. These are images which are not impressionistic or dream-like, neither are they diagrammatic or didactic. In the Tang imperial tombs we see scenes of farmers, attendants, hunters, musicians, dancers, entertainers, grooms, birds and animals along with tools, vehicles and accoutrements. Like the Han scenes, the action takes place amidst landscape and architectural settings. While the Tang subject matter echoes the Han, the stylistic means are different. The Tang paintings are illusionistic with a strong sense of volume, weight, balance, sculptural form and depth. In the Tang they evoke traditional themes in heightened realistic form. Like Western Han emperors' tombs the Tang imperial tombs stored models, in ceramic and wood, of buildings, utilitarian items, soldiers, beauties, attendants, musicians, acrobats, servants and grooms, in various poses, plus farmyard animals, beasts of burden and animals used for sport, hunting, warfare and transportation. While the concept of including such mortuary wares was derived from antiquity these artworks express everything that was fashionable, new and reflective of dynastic confidence in the Tang age.

In conclusion, the early Tang imperial tombs were strongly influenced by their Western Han antecedents. By the late seventh century, the Tang had reinvented the form so that the Tang imperial tombs developed into distinctive monuments which made bold and grandiose public statements about Tang power and political legitimacy. These served as new models for imperial tombs in the subsequent dynasties.