Bonnie Cheng
Associate Professor of Art and East Asian Studies
Oberlin College
“Non/Functional Realism: Imagined Spaces for the Dead in Northern Dynasties China”
Friday, January 22, 4-6pm
Cochrane Woods Art Center, Room 156
Abstract
This talk examines the status of tomb art in the Northern Dynasties and its role in delimiting the space and boundaries of the dead. Revisiting ancient notions of grave goods (i.e. mingqi) in textual and visual traditions, I argue that these modes used to distinguish objects in Han and pre-Han tombs are inherently incompatible with innovative trends that characterize fifth and sixth century traditions. While Northern Dynasties funerary practices have clear antecedents in ancient China, this is largely visible by way of content. Instead of rendering tomb objects “useless” to define them against ritual objects of ancient China, formal means are stretched to render them more distinctly realistic.
