Unknown
Chinese
"Hill Jar" (Lian) with Animals and Immortals in Mountain Landscape, 2nd c. BCE - 3rd. c. CE, Han dynasty
reddish earthenware with olive-green glaze
9 1/8 x 7 1/2 in.
SBMA, Gift of Wright S. Ludington memory of Charles Henry Ludington
1983.27.24
RESEARCH PAPER
Introduction:
“A tomb ware of particular beauty and significance is the SBMA Hill Jar. It is covered with a dark olive green lead glaze and takes it form from the combination of two bronze vessels. The cover, molded in the shape of a mountain, resembles a type of popular incense burner called ‘po-shan-lu.’
The bottom container, supported by three standing bear like creatures, is derived from the bronze vessel called “lien,” on which molded figures and animals dash around in a primitively stylized landscape setting. The form and decoration allude to the prevalent ‘Taoist theme’ of ‘; fairy land’ or the ‘homes of the immortals’. The vigorous linear rhythm of the design combined with realistic detail is characteristic of the pictorial expression of the Han People. “(1)
Cultural relevance:
As an example of a funerary object, the Hill Jar would have been one of the major types of vessels put in tombs along with replicas of household objects. They are meant to assure that the life of the deceased would be similar life in the afterlife.
These representations of the Blessed Isles or Paradise started in the Han period and represented the desire to be transported to this place after death. (2)
But these Hill Jars differ from the replicas of everyday object in that they allude to the continued belief in the Taoist myths despite the growth of Confucianism and Buddhism. It is a clay replica of the more precious bronze incense burner. It may have been a reliquary for bones, or simply have held some sort of food or ceremonial libation.
Material and Technique:
The jar is made of natural earthenware that is found in a wide variety of colors from very dark grays to whites and from dark reddish brown to pale yellowish buffs or may even be pink. The texture may very from very coarse to fine and dense, and are usually made from clays with a high degree of plasticity: The bodies fire well all degrees up to 800 to 1100 degrees centigrade with absolute maximum of 1150 degrees centigrade.
Because the clay for this jar was so plastic and held the figures in great detail, “tempers “ and crushed quartz or flints were probably not needed, or were added uniformly so that we cannot prove it either way.
Once molded the jar is dipped in a green lead glaze: to make it look like bronze. As it is an iron oxide, the color of glaze on the final piece can vary from pale brown-yellow to gray green depending on the success of the firing: green representing the highest degree of success. Also in these earlier pieces of the Han Dynasty, there was limited control over the thickness color and surface gloss of the glaze.
SBMA jar is mostly uniformly thick, with a glossy green glaze, except perhaps for the feet, on which there is no glaze. Since it is applied in the dipping method, the glaze does not always reach the base and this may be the reason the feet are not covered in the green glaze. Though we cannot see them, the insides are also generally glazed.
Han period many down draft either single chamber of multi-chambered kilns were located just south of the Yangtze River, near Hangchou. It is here the fundamental skill in firing to stone ware temperatures was gradually perfected in pottery called green glaze ware.
The attaching of molded objects as we see here were added to give three-dimensional shape and represent a new decorative element first introduced in the Han period. Pieces like this jar demonstrate the lively style of design that would be thought of as innovative in this period. (Source Margaret Medley)
The cover is molded in the shape of the five sacred mountains, four that piled up to a central taller one. There are also small relief figures of animals, and men (on other jars there may even occasionally have been a cart drawn by horse) which are literary allusions to the classic mythical figures and stories known at these times.
From this ancient time in China to present times, mountains are special objects worthy of veneration. “They ensure cosmic order and permanence”: they hold the sky up and are the conduits to the heavens. The five mountains on our jar represent the five cardinal directions of North, South, East, West and the center. The center is the most important because it is the symbol of China: called at this time the Middle Kingdom. (From Eberhard)
On the side of the jar, between two narrow linear bands above and below, is a central band that encircles the jar revealing a low relief landscape scene with birds, dragons, tigers and figures dashing around the jar, in a very animated forms. These figures seem to be floating on waves of the sea. It is a symbolic landscape: in which the exact proportions are not as important as the expression of the liveliness: the Ch’i or energy of life there.
The deer figure on the right of the jar bottom is an important figure in folk legends. The Chinese believed they could live for ages and therefore represent “longevity”. They also believe the deer as it wanders through wild lands represents the creative spirit or artist and it is said to be the only animal capable of finding the sacred fungus of immortality.
The mountains on the cover of the jar are said to represent the Isles of the Blessed: believed in Han times to be located somewhere in the eastern sea. It is the Chinese Paradise where the immortals live in eternal happiness: and where the peach tree is found that when you eat a bite you can live forever. Even the great Emperor in Qin Shi huang-di: obsessed with trying to secure his own immortality, sent boating expeditions out into the Eastern Sea to find these islands.
Historical Context:
The Han Dynasty from 206 BCE to 220 CE represents the first period when the great vast territories of China were united: when warring ended. A common currency a vast system of roads and water projects were developed that solidified the unity of China. The segments of the Great Wall were completed and joined together to keep out the foreigners.
Therefore, it was the first period when there was time for the arts to flourish. But belief in the after life still had very important influence on even daily and on all ceremonial life.
It was the end of the myth centered age when people conducted their affairs based on shamanistic intercession with the supernatural and in stead marked the beginning of the time when rational Confucianism became central to Chinese political and intellectual thought and the greater purpose became to create a peaceful world. To accomplish this respect for authority was established to allow for the orderly rule of people.
This movement to peace and rational order of things was common in many parts of the world at this same time.
In Egypt, the Roman occupation led by Hadrian represents a similar blending of the religious focus on the afterlife, combined with the governmental order brought by the Romans. In Rome, the Ara Pacis (13 to 9 BCE Italy) was created: the Column of Trajan was erected in 113-116 CE to symbolize this order.
In the Middle East, it was the Gandhara Period and during this period the Great Stupa of Sanchi was built in India. In Japan it was the Yayoi Period when the Ainu people invaded Japan overtaking the Jomon peoples and infused their culture with their own customs and crafts.
In the Americas, the Mayans civilization was thriving: the oldest Mayan monuments are dated to 151 to 200 CE.
Relationship to other objects in the SBMA Collection
This Hill Jar is a three dimensional portrayal of images that later would be the focus of the most scholarly landscape paintings and for the Coromandal screen. As a symbol of Paradise, it also could be compared to the “heavenly” palace of the Tibetan Sand Mandala. It is the Mount Olympus to the Greeks.
(1) From the text of “Gallery Notes” by Susan Shin-tsu Tai (9/81), Volume 6: number 3
(2) Page 112, Sherman Lee: China: 5,000 Years Innovation and Transformation in the Arts, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Museum 1998 New York.
Bibliography
Wolfram Eberhard, A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought Routledge & Kegan, Paul: London and New York
Wu Hung, “Realities of Life After Death: Constructing a Posthumous World in Funerary Art” in Sherman Lee: China: 5,000 Years Innovation and Transformation in the Arts Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Museum 1998 New York. Page 112
Sherman E. Lee. A History Of Far Eastern Art, Prentice –Hall inc. and Harry N. Abrams., New York 1973.
The Chinese Potter: a practical history of Chinese ceramics: by Margaret Medley, Phaidon Press Ltd. London, 1999
Kiyohiko Munakata, Sacred Moutains in Chinese Art, University of Illinois Press, Urbano and Chicago, 1990.
Art History: Second Edition Volume One by Marilyn Stokstad, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York 2002
“Gallery Notes”: Santa Barbara Museum of Art volume 6: number 3 by Susan Shin-tsu Tai (9/81) Santa Barbara, California 1981.
Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art Motives, C.A.S. Williams, Dover Publications, Inc. New York 1976
Prepared for the SBMA Docent Council by Dorothy Warnock and Susan Tai, 2005
COMMENTS
Han Hill Jar Myth
From Han time the Five Immortal Mountains of the Returning Void were thought to be millions of miles east of the Bohai Sea. There is a gigantic bottomless hallow called the Gui Xu (our the Returning Void) All water flows to it but it remains level no matter how much water goes there.
There were once five mountains floating in the Returning Void. Daiyu, Yuangiao, Fanghu, Yingzhou and Penglai each one is 10,000 miles high and 10,000 miles around and there is 23,000 miles between them
These are the homes of the immortals whose houses were built of gold with balustrades of jade. The immortals and sages can fly between the mountains and visits each other.
All animals that live there are silky white, and the many trees and shrubs are made of jade and pearls. The flowers and fruits are delicious. If you eat them you will have immortality.
Because they were not rooted, but actually move with the tide, the immortals complained to the Supreme Being. They all were afraid that the islands would float to the west and sink. So the Supreme Being ordered the God of the North Sea to find a solution.
The god of the North Sea sent 15 giant tortoises to the Returning Void. Five immediately took hold to support the five mountains: the other 10 stand by wait to take their turn replacing the original 5 in 60,000 years.
One day when a giant was fishing, he caught some of the turtles and so two of the mountains were allowed to drift away. Now there are only three mountains: FangHu, Yingzhou and Penglai.
- Kiyohiko Munakata, Sacred Moutains in Chinese Art, University of Illinois Press, Urbano and Chicago, 1990
SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS
This vessel is often called a "Hill Jar," due to its mountain-shaped cover, a Han invention also found in bronze and ceramic censers. Beliefs in immortality and exotic lands during the Han dynasty inspired these earliest three-dimensional landscapes. In the lower register, mountain peaks undulate with scenes of running animals — a tiger, a spotted beast, a goat and a ram — and two human-like figures, representing immortals, each grasping a long stick. The vigor and animation of the linear design are not only indicative of the vitality of Han society, but also offer early examples of brush paintings which would have served as models for the molded designs.
- Asian Art Reopening, 2021