A Revisionist Approach to Animal-Style Art at the Northern and Southern Periphery of the Han Dynasty Empire

• In Event: 147. Power, People, and Animals in Asia, Part 3 of 3

Abstract

In its simplest definition, the term “animal-style art” points to a specific type of metalwork which incorporates zoomorphic motifs depicted in dynamic scenes of animal combat. Tombs associated with the Scythian and Pazyryk cultures active in the 5th-3rd century BCE around the Altai mountain region in present-day Kazakhstan and Southern Siberia contain a vast number of animal style objects. Recent excavations have also uncovered such funerary items in the Ordos area of Inner Mongolia where the Han dynasty’s political rival, the nomadic polity of the Xiongnu, was once active. Highly ornate pieces with animal imagery also appear in elite burials in the semi-independent Nanyue and Dian kingdoms, located along the southern edges of the Han empire. Art historians have demarcated the concept of animal style art in East and Central Asia within the boundaries of preconceived narratives. Some scholars identify these objects as having a Scythian prototype while others have credited the Han dynasty’s imperial workshops as the ultimate manufacturers. However, these narratives of external origins not only ignore the local variation in the visual representation of animals but also overlook the differences in funerary rituals among distinct nomadic groups. Through analysis of animal-style art in the form of headdresses, belt ornaments, and textiles excavated from tombs in China, Mongolia and Southern Siberia, I aim to explore key terms such as “syncretism”, “abstraction” and “realism” and thus, reconstruct the role of these animals in the funerary traditions of nomadic polities which interacted with the Han dynasty empire.

Author

• Petya Andreeva, University of Pennsylvania