Animal Imagery in Eastern Han Tomb Reliefs from Shanbei 陝北

Wild and fantastical animals climb, fly, scamper, prance across pictorial stone carvings decorating Eastern Han tomb doors in northern Shaanxi. Alongside dragons other mythical animals, bears felicitously dance, tigers grin opening their mouths to roar, wild frolic swirling cloudscapes. While the same can be found reliefs mortuary art regions, frequency, emphasis on plasticity movement, combination with yunqi 雲氣 motif are unique region. Originating a hybrid style of that was created during Mid-Western Dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE), significance dependent not so much any individual creature but display as an assemblage shared forms, behaviors, habitats. This paper explores how patrons artists Shanbei reinvigorated such imagery. It argues through region, these have become key element compositions meant pacify potentially dangerous realms awaited deceased postmortem ascension Heaven (tian 天).