Unlike those "warriors" guarding Emperor Shi Huang's tomb, Figurines unearthed from Han Dynasty tombs are "naked", their physiological features clearly indicating whether they are men or women. Those unearthed from the tomb of Emperor Jing. numbering thousands, are, without exception, naked men. In recent years, naked female figurines have been found elsewhere.
The true fact is that these figurines were "born" naked. When they were buried, they had clothes or armor suits on. and these clothes and armor suits, all made of silk cloth, have perished due to decomposition over the centuries. Han Dynasty figurines used as funerary objects are without arms, but holes found below their shoulders suggest that they had wooden arms inserted which, too, have perished. Archeologists think that the original owners of these figurines wanted to have them produced as life-like as possible. These figurines, after all, were meant to serve them in the nether world.
"Naked" figurines unearthed from a West Han tomb at Xi'an. |
