Funeral Banner of Lady Dai Mason Marsh

Template for Snapshot Content Area 8: South, East, and Southeast Asia Title/Designation: Funeral Banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui) Artist/Culture: China Medium: Painted Silk Creation Date: c. 180 BCE Creator’s Origin/Location: Han Dynasty, China Snapshot: > Form > Function > Content > Context (included information about the original and subsequent historical and cultural milieu, location of the work, display, life of the artist, and movement, when appropriate) > Tradition/change > Interpretation (include different interpretations when appropriate) > Artistic intent; audience response Form It is made of painted silk that means that Lady Dai came from a well to do family in the society. The funeral banner and all of the things found within the tomb all show the wealth and status of the family. This silk contradicts the poor peasants who would only be able to afford homespun or paper materials. The piece is T-shaped and over 6 feet long. Function This piece was used in the burial of the wealthy Lady Dai. It rested on the innermost of four nesting coffins. The true use of the banner is not all that clear but historians believe that most likely it was used as a name banner to identify the dead during the mourning ceremony or it may have been used as an aid in the soul’s passage to the afterlife. Content The piece itself is considered to be the earliest known portrait in Chinese painting. The banner can be broken down into four distinct horizontal registers. From bottom to top they are the underworld, the body of lady Dai and her mourners, Lady Dai and her attendants, and the heavenly realm. The heavenly and underworld registers depict figures such as a crow, toad, dragons, other immortal beings, giant fish, snakes, goats, and other deities. These figures give clues as to how that civilization imagined the supernatural realm. The second register depicts lady Dai being mourned after her death and is surrounded by many gifts. She wears the same outfit as she wears in the figure of her above it. The above figure is her enjoying her blessings and ascending to the afterlife. The robe shows the belief that they can take along with them the riches they were buried with. Context This piece is so very important because this piece gives insight into the religious beliefs of people in that time and area. It is also interesting that in this piece we can find the first examples of many techniques, these techniques being portrait painting, pictorial art, and the understanding of depth and space through the paintings. They also showed the understanding of depth by making objects in the background smaller than those in the foreground. Mostly though, this piece was essential for Lady Dai to ensure that she would enjoy the comforts of earth also in the afterlife. Possible Themes: Individual and Society, Knowledge and Belief Possible Subthemes: Life Cycles, Display, Performance, Identity Possible Connections with Other Works in the Image Set: 193. Terracotta warriors from mausoleum of the first Qin emperor of China 209. Taj Mahal Resources: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/imperial-china/han-dynasty/a/funeral-bann er-of-lady-dai-xin-zhui http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/china/hunan/pm02.html http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/china/hunan/pm02.html