BOOK REVIEWS
205
Ann Paludan. Chinese Tomb Figurines, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press Images of Asia series, 1994, 66 pages. Illustrations. Chronology. Bibliography. Index. HK$95
It is always a joy to behold a book by Ann Paludan, whether as a scholarly study or for general reading. Her smaller work, The Ming Tombs (Images of Asia 1991), possesses the same high quality of meticulous attention to scholarship as The Imperial Ming Tombs (Yale 1981), an academic publication. The book under consideration here, Chinese Tomb Figurines, is a smaller rendition of her The Chinese Spirit Road: The Classical Tradition of Stone Tomb Statuary (Yale 1991).
There is no need to have a trained eye or any knowledge of Chinese aesthetics to appreciate tomb figurines as they are shown by Paludan. She describes two types of figurines found in ancient tombs from the pre-Han era to the end of the Tang dynasty in chronological order - those made of clay and those made of stone. Despite their ‘ambivalent' attitude towards objects specifically made for tomb use, the Chinese 'dead were provided with replicas of worldly goods or talismans to help them' in their life in the nether world. Among the figurines reproduced in the book are mounted horsemen; acrobats and musicians; jesters and storytellers; houses for humans and a sty for pigs; and, above all, the ubiquitous 'fat lady' of the Tang dynasty.
It is wondrous indeed to wander into the countryside of ancient China through the figurines, not unlike perusing Egyptian relics at the Metropolitan Museum for the first time. Readers will encounter colour, pageantry, glorious ceremonies and mundane everyday happenings; and, above all, 'there are no representations of death, illness, mutilation, or violence.' There is, on the other hand, a great deal of humour for readers to savour.
WEI PEH TI