Animal basin with figures

The popularization of mingqi over the course of the Han dynasty (206 b.c.-220 a.d.) reflects dramatic changes in Chinese society, illustrating how power circulated beyond the imperial government and nobility to a broader bureaucratic class. In the early years of the Han, Confucianism emerged as the dominant philosophy and the empire became dependent on a class of scholar-officials. They desired gratification for themselves and their families in the afterlife and plentiful clay, fashioned into models ranging from crude earthenware to fine glazed stoneware, was the ideal medium for furnishing mingqi in burials across a swath of social strata.