Chinese Architecture - Miniature Models

Miniature Models

Although mostly only ruins of brick and rammed earth walls and towers from ancient China (i.e. before the 6th century AD) have survived, information on ancient Chinese architecture (especially wooden architecture) can be discerned from more or less realistic clay models of buildings created by the ancient Chinese as funerary items. This is similar to the paper joss houses burned in some modern Chinese funerals. The following models were made during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE–AD 220):

A pottery palace from the Han Dynasty (202 BC –AD 220)
Two residential towers joined by a bridge, pottery miniature, Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220)
A pottery tower from the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220)
A ceramic model of a house with a courtyard, from the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220)
A pottery gristmill from the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220)
A pottery tower from the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220)
A pottery model of a well from the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220)
A pottery tower from the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220)

During the Jin Dynasty (265–420) and the Six Dynasties, miniature models of buildings or entire architectural ensembles were often made to decorate the tops of the so-called "soul vases" (hunping), found in many tombs of that period.

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