HAN DYNASTY FOOD PROCESSING STRUCTURE
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A Household for the Afterlife
Han Dynasty Tomb Furnishings
People, animals, food, water, transportation—and an estate intended to endure beyond death
Collectively, the items in this case are mingqi—“spirit objects” made for burial. They recreate an agricultural household or estate in miniature: There are servants to work, horses for transportation, animals and vessels for food, a well for water, and a mill for processing grain. Comparable Han tomb assemblages include attendants, animals, houses, granaries, utensils, and vessels intended to sustain the deceased.
These items are from the Han Dynasty, 202 BCE to 220 CE, and specifically identified as from around the 2nd century, CE. The particular object we're looking at is a model of a grain processing structure. It contains two tools for processing grains like wheat. On the left is a tilt or trip hammer, and on the right, a rotary mill to grind grain into flour. Both of these were operated by hand- or foot-power, and they represent an accurate model of the full-sized structure of the period.
These items are from the Han Dynasty, 202 BCE to 220 CE, and specifically identified as from around the 2nd century, CE. The particular object we're looking at is a model of a grain processing structure. It contains two tools for processing grains like wheat. On the left is a tilt or trip hammer, and on the right, a rotary mill to grind grain into flour. Both of these were operated by hand- or foot-power, and they represent an accurate model of the full-sized structure of the period.
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A similar model, this from the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
THE STORY
The Chinese believed in an afterlife, and that it would be similar to the one they had just left. Wealthy and prominent people stocked their tombs with the articles they would need, including food, servants, animals, water wells, houses, and as we see here, structures dedicated to processing and cooking food.Even in the afterlife, someone had to make dinner.
This model, which includes a man working on the trip hammer and a dog, is from Yale University
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