Han Dynasty Architectural Models in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 2009

Architectural Models
Eastern Han dynasty (25-220)
Earthenware with green lead glaze

House with courtyard and granary tower: 13.110.11, 13.220.85
Stove: 67.43.2
Central watchtower: 1984.397
Mill, wellhead with bucket, animal pen with figures, goat pen, square pen with six rams, pigsty, and square duck pond: 1994.605.19-.23, .25
Watchtowers: 2000.662.3, .4

Ceramic models of houses and farm structures were commonly included in Eastern Han burials. Made to provide for the afterlife, these objects preserve a vivid picture of rural activity.

Pigsties and animal pens surround the four essential elements in a Han settlement: a house with an interior courtyard, a granary, a stove, and a well. Multistoried buildings served as watchtowers that protected the larger estate; the three basic types, all represented here, were the open tower with a moat, the solid-walled storehouse, and the pavilion with a forecourt.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.