Mingqi Pottery Buildings of Han Dynasty China 206 BC - Ad 220: Architectural Representations and Represented Architecture

An enormous number of burial objects have been unearthed from ancient tombs in archaeological excavations in China. These mingqi were made in all kinds of materials and in a broad range of forms, techniques and craftsmanship. In this book Quinghua Guo examines a particular type of mingqi -- pottery building. The striking realism of the pottery buildings suggests that they were modelled after actual buildings. They bring to life courtyard houses, manors, towers, granaries and pigsty-privies, as well as cooking ranges and well pavilions. These pottery buildings, previously little known, preserve knowledge of antiquity and demonstrate the architectural quality and structural variety of the period. The author identifies the typology of the pottery buildings they signify in terms of ontology and semiology, in order to provide a conceptual map for classification, and identifies building systems reflected by the mingqi to detect architectonic systems of the Han dynasty. Key features of
this volume include:

Author: Qinghua Guo
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Published: 08/12/2022
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.50h x 6.70w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9781845197797
ISBN10: 1845197798
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Archaeology
- History | Asia | China
- History | Ancient | General

About the Author

Qinghua Guo is professor of Asian architecture and planning at the University of Melbourne, Australia. One of the world's most renowned experts on Chinese architecture, she is the author of The Structure of Chinese Timber Architecture (1999), A Visual Dictionary of Chinese Architecture (2002), Chinese Architecture and Planning (2005) and Mingqi Pottery Buildings of Han Dynasty China (2010).