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The T’ang Dynasty was an era of unrivalled
wealth and luxury. The country was successfully
reunified and the borders were expanded,
pushing Chinese influence into new lands.
Confucianism became a semi-religious
instrument of the state; yet Buddhism continued
to flourish, spreading into Korea and Japan. The
arts reached new levels of sophistication. Poetry
and literature flourished under the enlightened
rulers. The Silk Road brought fortunes into
China. Precious treasures were imported on the
backs of camels from far away lands and
bartered for Chinese silk, medicinal herbs, and
pungent spices. T’ang China was a multicultural
empire where foreign merchants from across
Central Asia and the Middle East settled in the
urban centers, foremost among them the
thriving capital of Chang’an (modern X’ian), a
bustling cosmopolitan center of over two million
inhabitants. Foreign traders lived next to native
artisans and both thrived. New ideas and exotic
artistic forms followed alongside. The T’ang
Dynasty was a cultural renaissance where many
of the forms and objects we now associate with
China were first created. Moreover, this period
represents one of the greatest cultural
outpourings in human history.
I spend the morning going through
Government papers,
I spend the evening going through Government
papers.
--Bai Juyi,
poet and official, writing while governor of
Suzhou, 825 AD
This general type of Chinese burial
art is known as mingqi. Mingqi
were any of a variety of objects specifically
created for interment in the tombs of elite
individuals in order to provide for the afterlife.
This statue represents a civic official from the
vast governmental bureaucracy of the T’ang
Empire. With over two million inhabitants in
greater Chang’an, the cosmopolitan capital of
the T’ang, the governance of just this city alone
would have demanded an extensive network of
civic servants, not to mention the numerous
distant provinces of that comprised the greater
Empire. In order to remove power from the
hands of wealthy aristocrats and warlords, the
T’ang created a class of scholar officials to
govern their lands, enacting the will of the
Imperial Court throughout China. Rigorous
examinations ensured that only the most
qualified individuals were able to serve this
crucial position.
These civic officials represented the role of the
government in the life of the citizens, as
significant to their well being as military might.
The facial features of these figures, including
their aquiline noses and serene expressions,
reveal their intellectual wisdom and calm
restraint. The gorgeous Sancai glaze covers their
robes, and even parts of their faces. Buried
underground, these officials were interred in
order to welcome the deceased into the afterlife
and to ensure his comfort in the great beyond.
- (H.745)
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