Antiquity · Art Institute of Chicago · 12013
Model of a Two-Story Structure
China, Eastern Han dynasty, 25–220 CE
Art Institute of Chicago · Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection · Public domain
- Artist
- China
- Date
- Eastern Han dynasty, 25–220 CE
- Medium
- Brick-red earthenware with green lead glaze
- Dimensions
- 51.6 × 33.5 × 11.5 cm (20 5/16 × 13 3/16 × 4 1/2 in.)
- Era
- Antiquity
Why it matters
Burial models attest to the prevalence of multistoried buildings in early imperial China. This two-story structure, simply constructed of clay slabs, has a tile roof and an openwork balcony supported by brackets. Such realistic details are modified by imaginative "squatting-bear" feet. This model may depict a granary, or it may have been assembled with other clay structures to form a residential compound.