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

NOTES ' Kunlun Mountains are traditionally considered as Hanging Gardens in the far west. Cf. Burton Watson, (trans, and ed.) The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry. Columbia University Press, New York, 1984. Vol. I. pp. 54-66 2 Henri Maspero, La Chine antique. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1965. pp. 151159. 3 Zhongguo taoci tudian. ('Illustrated Handbook of Chinese Ceramics') Wenwu chubanshe, Beijing, 1998. p. 140. 4 According to these short incriptions found on some burial jars it is supposed that the mention of east and west mean totality. This idea was reflected in the landscape painting of the Six Dynasty (4th-6th c. A.D.) when sun and moon were often depicted on the sides of the mountains. 5 Ibid p. 140. 6 Jingdezhen Wares. The Yuan Evolution. Catalogue of an exhibition presented by The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong, 1984. p.89. 7 Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares. Persival David Foundation of Chinese Art, University of London, 1977. pp. 17-18 8 Zhongguo taoci tudian. ('Illustrated Handbook of Chinese Ceramics') Wenwu chubanshe, Beijing, 1998. p. 140. 9 Some Longquan type funerary urns dated to the 12-13th centuries can reflect the position of these burial jars in the tombs. Decoration of the funerary urns, the guardian animals -dragon pursuing the flaming pearl and tiger with a small dog-symbolized the mam directions, such as the east and the west. There were placed on the east and west side of the deceased person. Later the decoration of the burial jars was simplified. Each item had the same decorations. 10 Edouard Chavannes, Le T'ai Chan. Leroux, Paris, 1910. pp. 3-44. " David Hawkes, Ch'u Tz'u, The Songs of the South. Oxford, 1959. pp. 101-104. 12 Huaiyinshi Bowuguan, Huaiyin Gaozhuan Zhanguo mu. Kaogu xuebao 88, No. 2 (1988) pp. 189-232. Kiyohiko Munakata, Sacred Mountains in Chinese Art. Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois Press, 1990. p. 15. (hereafter Kiyohiko Munakata 1990) 14 David Hawkes, Ch'u Tz'u, The Songs of the South. Oxford, 1959. pp. 101-104. /5 A fascinating Han invention was the hill jar, which was made as a pottery replica of a metal ceremonial vessel. It consists of a cylindrical body with a conical lid molded into mountain peaks. The body, supported by three short legs at the bottom, bears a representation of mountain scene in low relief. The conical mountainshaped lids of hill jars consist of many layers of peaks and mountain ranges where animals and human figures roam. Hu jars from the Warring States period are particularly rich with pictorial representations of various scenes. Pottery hu jars of the late Han followed this tradition, but retained only one band of decoration on their shoulders. These bands depicted mountain scenes with wild animals and monsters, and represented the realm of wilderness that was the intermediary area between heaven and this world. 16 See painting of Gu Kaizhi, Admonitions of Palace Ladies in the British Museum (Tang copy of the painting. One of the most detailed study about the scroll is Basil Gray, Admonitions of the Instructress of the Ladies in the Palace. London, 1966. 17 Kiyohiko Munakata 1990. p. 38. 18 See Qu Yuan

's poem entitled Encountering Sorrow (Lisao) and note No. 1. 1 See Margaret Medley, The Chinese Potter. Phidon, Oxford, 1976. p. 66. And Haiwai Yichen. Chinese Art in Overseas Collections. Pottery and Porcelain. National Palace Museum, 1986. PI. 32. The covered vases of the Six Dynasty period highly reflected the Buddhist ideas about the afterlife. These objects were called guiyiping 'urns for ashes' and this term became common in the later period for covered jars though several types of these object were produced for an other purposes. 0 He Li, Chinese Ceramics. Thames and Hudson, London, 1996. p. 103. PI. 194. (hereafter, He Li 1996) 21 Xue Yao, Excavations of Song Tombs at Nancheng, Qingjiang and Yongxiu of Jiangxi Province (Jiangxi Nancheng, Qingjiang he Yongxiu de Song mu). Kaogu 1965/11. p. 571.