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<em>Tomb Pillar</em>, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail03.jpg)
Tomb Pillar, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail03.jpg)
<em>Tomb Pillar</em>, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail01.jpg)

Tomb Pillar, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail01.jpg)

<em>Tomb Pillar</em>, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail02.jpg)

Tomb Pillar, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail02.jpg)

<em>Tomb Pillar</em>, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail03.jpg)

Tomb Pillar, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail03.jpg)

<em>Tomb Pillar</em>, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail04.jpg)

Tomb Pillar, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail04.jpg)

<em>Tomb Pillar</em>, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail05.jpg)

Tomb Pillar, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail05.jpg)

<em>Tomb Pillar</em>, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail06.jpg)

Tomb Pillar, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail06.jpg)

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Tomb Pillar

Asian Art

On View: Asian Galleries, West, 2nd floor (China)
A pair of such pillars surmounted by a lintel would have formed the doorway into a Han-dynasty burial chamber. The figures sculpted in the round on top of each pillar were thought to have powers to protect the deceased on their afterlife journey. Bands of swirling dragons run down the center of each pillar for the same purpose. Both pillars have a design of figures under double roof gates (que): at the bottom on one pillar and between the legs of the creature on the other. In the Han dynasty, the que gate symbolized the entrance to the tomb complex and the beginning of the passage to Heaven.
This text refers to these objects: 37.124; 37.123
MEDIUM Earthenware
  • Place Made: China
    • DATES 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.
    DYNASTY Han Dynasty
    PERIOD Han Dynasty
    DIMENSIONS Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 37.124
    CREDIT LINE By exchange
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Asian Galleries, West, 2nd floor (China)
    CAPTION Tomb Pillar, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail03.jpg)
    IMAGE detail, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail03.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 1996
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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    <em>Tomb Pillar</em>, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Earthenware, Height: 49 5/8 in. (126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.124. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.124_1996_xrs_detail03.jpg)

    TAGS

    earthenware
    pillar
    tomb
    x-ray

    TAGS

    earthenware
    pillar
    tomb
    x-ray

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