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- giving them an attractive silver or gold iridescence. Although Han tomb figurines were generally made of grey clay and occasionally of red clay, craftsmen also utilized other materials such as bronze, stone and wood for funerary statues.
It is very difficult to make general statements on style with regards to Han tomb figures since the quality, size and material varied so much due to local customs and conditions. During the Han, horse figurines, in particular, seem to have been popular and have been boldly depicted with a sense of power, showing an obvious respect for that animal. Other domestic animals and fowl tend to be cruder and less animated. Human figures of the Western Han usually are large and have elongated bodies of simplified form. Some are depicted with long bodies, and with short legs coming from under their overcoats, while others have long, narrow bodies to the knees where the costume suddenly begins to flare, forming a flat, bell-shaped base. By the Eastern Han period, most human figures have become quite small and have declined in quality, except for some of the large and extremely animated figures found in Sichuan province.
After the fall of the Han dynasty in a.d.220, China was in turmoil. Divided into three nations during the Three Kingdoms period (220-265), briefly reunited again under the Western Jin dynasty (265-316), and divided again during the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (317-589), China was finally unified under the Sui dynasty (581 -618). For most of this time, non-Chinese dynasties occupied the north, while Chinese dynasties ruled the south. The economy of these minor kingdoms had largely stagnated, and this was reflected in their tomb art.
The tomb figurines of the Three Kingdoms and Western Jin periods continued the decline in artistic merit which had begun during the Eastern Han. From excavated tombs there appears to be a fairly large number of crude, grey clay figurines representing spearmen (fig. viii). These figurines usually have clumsy proportions, wear simple clothes of armour and have various headgear �flat hats, spiked helmets or corkscrew headdresses. The animal figurines of this period are rather bulky and are usually made from two moulds. The only other figurines of any great interest are the horned �rhino�-type beasts with their heads lowered.
The Southern Dynasties (Eastern Jin, Liu Song, Qi, Liang and Chen), which were Chinese dynasties, tried to build upon the rich legacy of the Han and continued the tradition of placing figurines in their tombs. Excavated tombs of this period, however, have yielded only a small number of crudely modelled figurines. The most popular figurines seem to have been male officials, female servants, winged lions (bixie), domestic animals such as horses, rams and pigs, and some architectural structures. A few figurines are made of stone while others are green-glazed or unglazed ceramic. The green-glazed or �greenware� pieces are highly fired.
In contrast to the south, the excavated tombs of the Northern Wei dynasty (386- 534) which was one of the non-Chinese dynasties of the north, have revealed large numbers of small, delicately modelled ceramic figurines. The proto-Turkish people of this dynasty were called Toba and they were strong believers in Buddhism. They constructed exquisite monumental Buddhist cave temples at Datong, Luoyang, Gongxian, Dunhuang and several other locations. Their tomb figurines, however, seem to have continued earlier funerary traditions and seem unaffected by their Buddhist beliefs, except that the cascading drapery on some of the figurines is very reminiscent of their Buddhist sculptures. Their figurines, which often formed elaborate processions, are mainly made of low-fired grey clay and covered with bright pigments painted over a white slip. In Northern Wei Buddhist caves, such as at Longmen and Gongxian, are stone relief murals of the imperial family in a procession to the caves. The arrangement of tomb figurines in an elaborate procession, therefore, may represent the actual funeral procession to lay the deceased at his
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