Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 18. (Budapest, 1999)

Györgyi FAJCSÁK: The hun soul's wanderings. A pair of Chinese burial jars from the 13th century

THE JOURNEY OF THE HUN SOUL TO HEAVEN IN CHINESE ART Mountain depictions of bronze sacrificial vessels date back to the late Zhou period (4th c. B.C.). The triangular-shaped mountains are between high trees, beneath animal-headed, human-bodied mythological beings. The slopes are full of walking and roaming beasts and birds (Figs. 8/a-b.). Several forms of mountain spirits are also depicted in early examples of Chinese art. Concerning the depiction of the hun soul's journey to heaven, the archaeologically important findings of Huaiyin, are particularly important. A high-ranking person is travelling in a dragon-shaped chariot pulled by two horses (Fig.9.). This scene should be interpreted as representing the journey of the soul of a deceased highranking person, or possibly the carrying of a royal message to heaven, through the intermediary realm of the wilderness/"' According to an ancient belief the soul of a man, deceased or severely ill, wandered in the world of dangerous spirits. The magician-shamans were engaged in calling back such wandering souls. It was described in the poem compiled by Song Yu (4th c. B. C.) as 'The Summons of the Soul' (Zhaohun) The image of the unknown, imaginative mountains of the Han dynasty (206 B. C220 A. D.) became human-like and more gentle than it had been in the Zhou period. Images of the sacred mountains were displayed as an intermediary realm between heaven and this world. In Han burial art there were certain variations in the appearance of this realm, with different aspects emphasized -some are represented as dangerous realms of wilderness while others are more peaceful realms, where immortals reside. The journey of the hun soul to heaven also became an accepted and widely depicted subject in Han dynasty tomb art, e.g., on wall paintings, bronze cylindrical hill jars and hu jars/

5 The journey of the hun soul passed through the mountains to reach the realm of the immortals. But where was this realm of immortals? Many concepts co-existed side by side in the Han period. One of them supposed that the afterworld could be found on island mountains (such as on Penglai in the eastern sea). According to another it was located in the paradise of the Kunlun mountains ruled by the Queen of the West (Xiwangmu). However, the netherworld of the Yellow Springs and the nebulous and compelling concept of the Dao were also mentioned as an interpretation of the afterworld. Depiction of the hun soul's journey can be found, for example, on the coffins excavated at Mawangdui (2nd c. B. C.) and these depictions were often applied together with other popular subjects of Han art, such as the realm of the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu) and immortals (xian), as well as Mt. Kunlun. These were innovations of Han dynasty Chinese art. Mountains on the paintings of the Six Dynasty period (4th-6th c. A. D.) and afterwards were formed by characteristic layers of peaks influenced by triangularshaped mountains of bronze hill censers (boshanlu), which were popular objects from the Han dynasty/

6 Sun and moon were often painted above the ranges of the mountains in these paintings. The Sun on the right side of the mountain represented the east, and the Moon on the left side represented the west. The idea that the topographic features of mountains should look like a dragon and reveal vital energy in dynamic motion is to be found in the tradition of the auspicious cloud- (yunqi-) mountain, the dominant concept in representing images of sacred mountains during the Han period/

7 Representations of the mountains connected to the cloud motifs which were ultimate expressions of the emission of mysterious energy. The auspicious clouds were