Period: Eastern Han (25-220 CE)
Measurements: Height: 107 cm, Depth:41, Width: 54 cm
Provenience: Unearthed at Houshiguo village, Xinmi, Zhengzhou, Henan, 1962

With the texture of entire grey pottery, covered by white pigment in the upper part, this object was broken into dozens of pieces upon its unearthing. After restoration, the appearance of a two-storied building with a rectangular floor plan came into being.

The first floor rises on four rectangular feet indicating the terrace on the first floor, which is fenced by the lattice walls with the gate in the center, and a granary in the back. A staircase on the right leads to the second floor, which is similar with the first floor, save for its smaller size, and two “roof windows” on the roof ridge.

Under the influence of the Confucian funeral ideology “serving the dead as though they are alive”, the Han people “view all the belongings of deceased when they were alive to be their burial goods after their death”, thus earthenware burial goods symbolized the wealth owned before death flourished, which not only exquisitely exemplified the greediness of the tomb occupants to possess materials, powers, etc., but also realistically demonstrated the prosperity of the manor economy of the powerful landlords of the time. What’s more, these skillfully made, multipurpose burial buildings provide the precious physical examples for the study on the constructions and technological progress during the Han dynasty.