Online Auction: 6–31 March 2026 • 11:00 AM EDT • New York

Each an individual work of art, together something magnificent; the present collects ion of Han dynasty tomb bricks is at once a masterpiece of ancient craftsmanship and a living piece of history. Preserved for the last century in one of America’s leading institutions, the tomb bricks of the Art Institute of Chicago represent one of the finest and most comprehensive surveys of its kind to survive outside of China. While a select group from this historic assemblage is now being offered, the Art Institute of Chicago continues to preserve and display important examples from the collects ion, ensuring that these remarkable works remain accessible to the public. Together, they present a unique opportunity to continue a story two millennia in the making.

The Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), in many ways, represents the birth of modern China. Emerging from the rubble of the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206), the Han established China as a global superpower, uniting the nation, developing a scholarly class and Confucian standards, and establishing a rich canon of cultural and artistic traditions that have remained at the core of Chinese identity to the present day.

Scholarly understanding of Han society, values and traditions has always been inextricably linked to the study of funerary arts. While the written sources were interpreted and reinterpreted to align with later historiographies, the extant material culture, primarily found in tomb sites, remains unchanged and as such represents the only truly 'primary' source for Han culture. Explicitly conceived with perpetuity in mind, funerary arts speak not only to the lives and expressions of individuals at the moment of their passing, but rather were produced as lasting monuments of a bygone age; mirrors by which one can uncover the values of a nation, its fears, hopes and beliefs.

While scholars and connoisseurs have pored over the carvings and inscriptions of ancient China since the early eleventh century, classical Chinese epigraphy (jinshixue, lit. ‘the study of metal and stone’) largely overlooked pottery tomb bricks like the present in favor of more esteemed materials such as bronze vessels and stone stelae. Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) – the father of Chinese epigraphy – and his Song dynasty (970–1279) contemporaries traveled across China in search of inscriptions and stelae, recording over a thousand rubbings s of bronze and stone but, in the process, also established an enduring hierarchy of material history that left the fascinating and visually striking world of pottery tomb bricks largely unexplored. ¹ That said, beyond the world of academia, tomb bricks continued to be admired in the eyes of the literati for their resonance and ancient beauty. The famous aesthete Wen Zhenheng (1585-1645), for example, praises ancient bricks in his Zhangwu zhi [Treatise on Superfluous Things] for their hollow form which, when used as part of guqin (zither) tables, enhanced the sound of the musical instrument.

Scholarly interest in Han bricks was revived with China’s rapid advancement in the early twentieth century.² With industrialization bringing unprecedented changes to the natural landscape, extraordinary discoveries in the world of Chinese archaeology emerged, including a number of intact tombs from the Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties around key imperial centers. From the Terracotta Army of the First Qin Emperor, discovered by farmers in 1974, to the Mausoleum of Zhao Mo, King of Nanyue, uncovered in downtown Guangzhou in 1983, contemporary discoveries have enriched our understanding of ancient China far beyond that of the classical written canon, revealing levels of artistic complexity, social nuance and visual splendor totally unknown to pre-modern scholarship.

Surviving examples of Han dynasty brickwork are exceedingly rare, almost always divorced from their original contexts and preserved in major public institutions, primarily in North America, where they are rarely displayed due to their inherent fragility. Notable examples include those at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, which preserves the collects ions of Anglo-Irish fur merchant George Crofts (1871–1925) and Bishop William C. White (1873–1960); two bricks acquired by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia (accession nos 31-32-1 and 2) from E. Gutmann in 1931, apparently from Henan province, discussed in Helen Elizabeth Fernald, ‘Two Pottery Tiles from a Han Dynasty Tomb’, The University Museum Bulletin, no. 4, June 1933, pp 103–107;³ those purchased from Yamanaka and Company – likely from a closely related source to the present – by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City in 1933; six examples preserve in the Cleveland Museum of Art, gifted by Ralph (1855–1926) and Fanny Tewksbury (1867–1949) King in 1915; a doorway of three bricks on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (accession nos A.13-1924; A.27-1953; and A.28-1953); and a small selection in the Avery Brundage collects ion at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, including one in He Li, Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, pl. 58.

The Han tomb was a place of contradictions. Seen as the ‘Great Boundary’ (daxian) between this world and the next, the tombs of the Han dynasty possess their own temporality and space, rituals and durations, distinct from both the world of the living and the worlds believed to follow.⁴ As Eugene Y. Wang explores in his seminal analyses of arguably the most famous Han tomb – that of the Marquis and Marquise of Dai (d. after 176 BCE) – the structure and artistic schema of Han funerary arts possesses a puzzling combination of mingqi (‘spirit objects’) that imitate the home and those that project the otherworldly journey to heaven.⁵ Citing the oft-debated ‘spirit calling’ (zhaohun) ritual described in the Han dynasty Songs of Chu (Chuci), Wang notes the contrasts between texts describings the horrors of the afterlife and visions of domestic comfort in heaven that both appear to have been in circulation during the Han. However, rather than forcing a reconciliation of these ideas, Wang and others have argued that the tomb is radically different to a text – able to embrace both worldviews simultaneously.⁶ As a lasting and enduring physical schema open to viewing and interpretation by the descendants of the deceased and, by extension, in the eyes of new researchers and collects ors, the tomb and its bricks are able to act as an ongoing pictorial ritual – constantly serving as a link between heaven and earth.

Perhaps the most striking symbol of this link between the divine and the mundane – between immortality and the corporeal world – is found in the decorated tomb bricks of the Han dynasty. Literally built from the earth’s clay, coiled and pressed by hands whose marks remain visible on inspection to this day, the bricks are unquestionably remnants of the earth. And yet, pressed with hundreds of intricate designs from wooden or clay stamps, awash with iconography, texture and visual impact, the bricks speak simultaneously of heaven. While less clearly understood than the didactic imagery of carved stone bricks like those of the shrine of Wu Liang (78-151 CE) in Shandong, the iconography of impressed tomb bricks is immediately striking on first sight. Almost overwhelming in its complexity and sheer scale, the individual meanings of each stamped design may not have been apparent even at the t.mes of their production but, surveying the group as a whole, some clear themes begin to emerge.

Almost every brick in the present group tells the story of a journey. Variously said to depict mourners coming to pay their respects, or simply the opulence and grandeur of a horse-owning elite, chariots and riders represent one of the most prominent designs in the group (fig.1). As with almost all Han brick designs, this realist scholarly interpretation is accompanied by more symbolic or ritualistic associations.⁷ With a square base surmounted with a large round umbrella and vertical pole, the chariot also forms a rebus for Han cosmology, with the earth – square – meeting the circular vault of heaven as one’s life draws to a close.⁸ Similarly, while traditionally thought to depict the living, these charioteers also seem to transcend the tomb as symbols of the transition between this world and the next. Most explicit in stamped designs of chariots led by cranes – t.mes less symbols of immortality – these chariot scenes also appear to depict the greatest of life’s journeys: the soul’s ascent to Mount Kunlun, Land of the Immortals.⁹

A group of four impressed gray pottery tomb tiles, Western Han dynasty

Estimate: 6,000 – 8,000 USD

As with most journeys, the path of life is similarly closed with points of no return; checkpoints and doorways that mark the end of one t.mes and the beginning of another. In Han tomb arts, this proverbial Janus is the pushou. Modeled after bronze door knockers and handles, many of which similarly survive in tomb contexts, these fearsome beasts are modeled variously with horned heads and imposing jaws from which ring handles suspend. Though most prominently featured on door panels as otherworldly replacements for metal prototypes, pushou are stamped throughout the present group, reminding the beholder of the multitude of thresholds and journeys to come (fig. 2).

An impressed gray pottery tomb tile, Western Han dynasty

Estimate: 5,000 – 7,000 USD

Halberd bearers and tiered watchtowers (que) similarly serve this dual function as protectors and signifiers of a journey’s end. Among the earliest motifs found on Western Han tomb tiles in the city of Luoyang, men bearing halberds are frequently attested guarding the entrances to tombs, their warm yet stalwart expressions greeting the observer with the reassurance of safety (fig. 3).¹⁰ Watchtowers appear to fulfil a similar role, marking waypoints for mourners and for the soul as it rises to Kunlun.¹¹ Often flanked by auspicious scenes and evergreen trees – that seem immortal in the winter frosts – the watchtowers mark a homecoming, a site of rest where yin and yang energies intermingle.¹²

A group of four impressed gray pottery 'horse and phoenix' tomb tiles, Western Han dynasty

Estimate: 5,000 – 7,000 USD

The natural and supernatural world are linked, however, with more than evergreen trees. From horses and oxen to phoenixes, tigers and leopards, tomb brick designs seamlessly blend the natural world with the world beyond. This blending has come to reflect the open-minded mythologizing of the Han dynasty as the outside world slowly opened up to Chinese thinkers at the turn of the first millennium, and is frequently attested in contemporaneous works like bronze and pottery boshanlu ‘mountain’ censers, likely inspired by tales like the Shanhaijing [Classic of Mountains and Seas], that first expounded the mysteries of the world beyond. Leopards and phoenixes specifically have been attested in tomb contexts as mythical defenses and auspicious companions, while tiger motifs gradually became incorporated into specifically royal contexts by the fall of the Han (fig. 4).¹³

An impressed gray pottery 'heavenly horse, phoenix, and tiger' tomb tile, Western Han dynasty

Estimate: 3,000 – 5,000 USD

Perhaps more understated but no less significant are the myriad framing and geometric patterns found on the bricks; imbuing a sense of order, majesty and protection beyond any specific iconography. Variously termed ‘elephant eyes,’ ‘coins,’ or simply ‘geometric patterns,’ the complex designs of stamped diamonds, circles and swirls lends the overall assemblage a dizzying and magnificent impression (fig. 5).¹⁴These repeating motifs also appear to have been made intentionally to enhance the visual effect of the tomb in a tromp l’oeil fashion, deepening the horizontal and vertical planes of the tomb, making each brick appear larger and deeper than it ought, and betraying the extraordinary technical skill of its ancient makers.¹⁵

A group of four impressed gray pottery tomb tiles, Western Han dynasty

Estimate: 6,000 – 8,000 USD

Although the precise geographical origins of the present group are unknown, at least three distinct styles of decoration appear to be present which, together with technical analysis, imply that the bricks may derive from two or three distinct sites. The majority of the present bricks, featuring busy fields deeply impressed with repeating designs, appears to derive from two related styles: the more solid monumental designs apparently earlier in date and from around the city of Zhengzhou, Henan; and the more linear expressive designs somewhat later in date and more akin to those attested from Shaanxi province. The final style, typically attributed to the capital region of Luoyang (though since uncovered more broadly) is typified by its largely plain surfaces, usually with a diaper border, smoothed with water and finely impressed with a much more limited selection of vibrant horse, tiger, money-tree and halberd-bearer designs; much more akin to contemporaneous painting and stone carving in their vitality compared with their more geometric contemporaries. Heritage collects ions, together with recently published archaeological findings and compendia, each seem to support these attributions. Compare closely related ‘elephant eye’ bricks with diaper borders uncovered from a Han tomb in Shaogou, Luoyang, in Luoyang Shaogou Han mu, Beijing, 1959, pls 14:1 and 2; a group of rubbings s closely related to the more linear stamped subgroup in Zhang Hongxiu, ed., Shanxi Han hua [Han dynasty decorations in Shaanxi], Xi’an, 1990; closely related rubbings s of the Zhengzhou variety included in the travelling exhibition Han hua yinxiang: Zhengzhou Handai huaxiang zhuan tapian zhan, Zhengzhou Museum, Zhengzhou, 2017; almost all of the present stamped designs compiled without attribution in Wang Zhenduo, ed., Handai kuang zhuan jilu [A collects ion of tomb-bricks of the Han dynasty], Beijing, 1935; and others, from various locations across Henan province preserved in the Henan Museum, Zhengzhou, illustrated and analyzed on the Museum’s website.

These remarkable bricks arrived at the Art Institute of Chicago through the generosity of the Buckingham Family. Among the wealthiest figures in Chicago in the early twentieth century, the three Buckingham siblings – Kate Sturges (1858–1937, fig. 6), Lucy Maud (1870–1920) and Clarence (1855-1913) Buckingham – amassed extraordinary collects ions of art from across the world, acquired from the leading dealers of their day. While Clarence focused largely on Japanese woodblock prints and Lucy Maud on Chinese porcelains and archaic bronzes, Kate’s interests appear to have been more eclectic, driven by instinctual attraction and emotion rather than scholarship, and dominated by a taste for medieval European and Gothic art, with which the present assemblage shares a remarkable consonance.¹⁶ According to archival materials from the Art Institute of Chicago, these bricks were acquired by Miss Buckingham before 1925 from the renowned dealers Yamanaka & Company, founded by Yamanaka Sadajiro (1866-1936, fig. 7), which had established thriving sale rooms in New York and Boston by the turn of the century. Kate likely became acquainted with Yamanaka through her brother Clarence, who purchased the majority of his woodblock prints through the firm, and appears to have returned on several occasions to purchase further pieces for her collects ion.

Following the death of her father Ebenezer in 1912, her brother Clarence in 1913 and her sister Lucy in 1920, Kate was left with an extensive fortune and a desire to share it with the people of Chicago. Most visible in the famous Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park, Kate’s generosity extended to the arts, extending her siblings’ collects ions through further purchases, and donating them along with her own to the Art Institute of Chicago in the name of her sister, along with an endowment of two million dollars.

Further Publications:

Pamela Vandiver, Catherine Klesner, Elinor Pearlstein and Jie Shi, ‘Han Dynasty Hollow Mortuary Bricks from Northern China in the collects ion of Art Institute of Chicago, Part I: Technical Study’,

Pamela B. Vandiver, ‘Han Dynasty Hollow Mortuary Bricks from Northern China in the collects ion of Art Institute of Chicago, Part II: Technological Study’

Jean M. James, ‘Pictorial Bricks of the Han Dynasty in The Art Institute of Chicago’, Orientations, June 1993, pp 69–71.

Charles Fabens Kelley, ‘Terra Cotta Tiles in the Buckingham collects ion’, Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 19, no. 6, September 1925, pp 69–71.

Wanda Odell, ‘Chinese Tomb Tiles’, Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 36, no. 4, April – May 1942, pp 54–56.

Footnotes:

¹ Jeffrey Moser, ‘Why cauldrons come first: taxonomic transparency in the earliest Chinese antiquarian catalogues’, Journal of Art Historiography, no. 11, December 2014, pp 1–23.

² From the beginning of the twentieth century to 2011, sixty-one tombs attributable to the Han dynasty had been officially uncovered, of which twenty-one were found in Henan province, and of which fifteen were located in the former capital of Luoyang. See Nataša Vampelk Suhadolnik, ‘Han Mural Tombs: Reflection of Correlative Cosmology through Mural Paintings’, Asian and African Studies, vol. XV, no. 1, 2011, pp 21–22.

³ See also Lily Nesvold, ‘Han Dynasty Tomb Brick’, Discentes, 12th February 2023.

⁴ Wu Hung, ‘Beyond the Great Boundary: Funerary Narrative in Early Chinese Art’, In Jon Hay, ed., Boundaries in China, London, 1994, p. 81.

⁵ Eugene Y. Wang, ‘Ascend to Heaven or Stay in the Tomb? Paintings in Mawangdui Tomb 1 and the Virtual Ritual of Revival in Second-Century B.C.E. China’, In Amy Olberding and Philip J. Ivanhoe, Mortality in Traditional Chinese Thought, Albany, 2011, pp 37-84.

⁶ Samuel Lee, ‘Tomb Pillars: The Spatial Practice of Permanent Obscurity’, O for Other, University Malaya, February 2020.

⁷ See also stamped designs depicting pastoral scenes and hunters on horseback fending off tigers or hunting geese; vignettes of everyday life imbued with a sense of splendor and vitality undoubtedly of ritual significance. Note how the huntsman protects the tomb’s occupier but in the same instant depicts the end of an animal’s life.

⁸ Suhadolnik, op. cit., p. 24

⁹ Li Zhongmin and Zhang Jianguang, ‘Ruming yu shengxian: Huaxiang zhuan suo jian lianghan shenhou shijie de shuangchong xiangxiang / Descending to the Underworld and Ascending to Immortality: The Dual Imagination of the Afterlife as Seen in Han Dynasty Pictorial Bricks’, Xueshu yuekan / Academic Monthly, vol. 57, 2025:7, p. 194.

¹⁰ ibid., p. 193.

¹¹ Compare a closely related depiction of chariots and double que flanked by a pair of halberd bearers excavated from a late Western Han tomb in Zhengzhou, Henan, ibid., p. 195, fig. 3.

¹² Note some scholars have observed a pointedly sexual undertone to these depictions of evergreen trees, couples in union, pairs of cranes sharing meals etc. For further exploration of the theme writ-large, compare more explicit imagery in the contemporaneous funerary arts of Sichuan province in Hajni Elias, Remembrance in Clay and Stone: Early Memorial and Funerary Art of Southwest China, New York, 2025, ch. 5.

¹³ Compare brick carvings from the royal tombs of the Southern Dynasties in Luo Zongzhen, ‘Nanjing Xishanqiao Youfangcun Nanchao damu de fajue [Excavation of the Southern Dynasties tomb at Youfang village, Xishanqiao, Nanjing]’, Kaogu, 1963:6, pp 291-300 via Jin Xu, ‘Engraving identities in stone. Stone mortuary equipment of the Northern dynasties (386-581 CE)’, PhD Thesis, University of Chicago, August 2017, p. 44, note 26.

¹⁴ Note, some designs featured are explicitly coins, particularly those marked with the auspicious value of wuzhu.

¹⁵ Samuel Lee, op. cit.

¹⁶ Charles Fabens Kelley, ‘Kate S. Buckingham as a collects or’, Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 39, no. 1, January 1945, pp 1-5.

這組漢代陶磚，每磚皆可作獨立藝術品觀賞，成組合觀則氣勢磅礴，既為古代工藝傑作，亦屬鮮活歷史見證。此組陶磚於過去百年間，珍藏於美國重要藝術機構芝加哥藝術博物館，是國外所存規模最完整、質素最上乘的同類漢代陶磚群之一。此次僅精選其中部分釋出，館方將繼續典藏並展出此系列的其他作例，使這批珍貴文物得以長久向公眾呈現。承載兩千年歷史，為延續歷史篇章提供近乎獨一無二的機會。

 
就多重意義而言，漢代（公元前206年－公元220年）均可代表現代中國之肇始。秦朝國祚短暫，漢代取而代之，迎來中華盛世，奠定古時中國傲視外邦諸國的超然地位，統合國家疆域，訂立文士階層及儒家規範，所建文化藝術典範體系豐富持久，至今仍屬中華民族認同之根基核心。

學界對漢代社會、價值觀與傳統之理解，與喪葬藝術研究緊密相連。由於文獻記錄有限，而且多經後世史學反覆詮釋重構以迎合其史學觀點，漢代生活最具代表性的「第一手」史料，唯有古墓中所遺留之石碑、造像與建築結構。用於陵墓的藝術品，創作初衷即著眼於永恆，不僅映照個人離世瞬間的生命軌跡與情感表達，亦為紀念其時代而製，更有如一面鏡子，映照民族之價值觀、恐懼、希望與信念。

自十一世紀初以來，學者與鑑賞家開始深入研究古代雕刻及銘文，而金石學則偏重青銅與石碑等更受尊崇之材質，普遍忽略如本品之類陶製墓磚。宋代歐陽修 （1007–1072年），開創金石學，同代尚有其他愛好金石之同好，曾遍訪各地尋覓碑文石刻，記錄逾千件青銅與石刻拓本，在此過程中確立 金石研究的系統，以青銅禮器及石碑為尚。陶製墓磚雖然富有視覺衝擊力，而且引人入勝，卻一直缺乏深入研究。¹ 話雖如此，除專注金石之學術研究外，陶磚以其古樸美感與韻味，仍然得到不少文人雅士 欣賞。文震亨（1585-1645年）《長物志》記述，以古磚「作琴台，取其中空發響」。

中國二十世紀初急速發展，重新點燃學術界對漢代古磚的關注。² 自然地貌，因工業化進程而急劇改變，促成多項重大考古發現，包括秦、漢、唐等朝代帝都周邊，多有發現重要古墓。從1974年農民發現秦始皇兵馬俑，到1983年廣州市中心出土南越王趙眜陵墓，當代考古發現大幅拓展人們對古時中國的認識，遠超古典文獻記載，此中藝術性的精微奧妙，社會層面的複雜以及視覺上之瑰麗，皆非近代研究之前文獻所能及。

 
漢代陶磚傳世極罕，絕大多數為北美重要機構收藏，脫離原本環境。由於陶磚易碎，極少公開展示。重要作例包括：加拿大多倫多皇家安大略博物館藏一例，出自英愛混血毛皮商人George Crofts（1871–1925年）與Bishop William C. White（1873–1960年）收藏；美國費城賓夕法

美國費城賓夕法尼亞大學考古與人類學博物館收藏兩例，1931年得自E. Gutmann，據稱源自河南省，相關論述見於Helen Elizabeth Fernald，〈Two Pottery Tiles from a Han Dynasty Tomb〉，《大學博物館通訊》卷 4，1933年6月，頁103–107；³ 尚有數例，1933年由美國堪薩斯城Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art購自山中商會，其來源可能與本品密切相關；克利夫蘭藝術博物館見六例，1915年由Ralph (1855–1926年) 及 Fanny Tewksbury (1867–1949年) King伉儷捐贈；再比一例，共三磚，組成門，現藏於倫敦維多利亞與艾伯特博物館（藏品編號A.13-1924； A.27-1953；及A.28-1953）；另有數例，舊金山亞洲藝術博物館Avery Brundage收藏，其中一例載於賀利，《Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco》，紐約，1996年，圖版58。

漢墓所包含的概念，看似頗多矛盾。陵墓代表生死大限，而漢墓卻擁有獨特的時空觀、儀式規範與存續邏輯，有別於陽間，亦異於人們心目中的冥界。⁴ 馬王堆漢代軑侯與夫人墓（卒於公元前176年後），堪稱最著名之漢墓，學者汪悅進的開創性研究揭示，漢墓藝術品的結構與藝術模式同時包括模仿人間居所之明器，以及投射通往天界的超世想像，如此組合，頗爲耐人尋味。⁵ 汪氏引述《楚辭》所述《招魂》儀式，指出漢代文獻既有描繪幽冥恐怖景象，亦有呈現升天之後，仙界溫馨如家園之情景，此中對比極爲鮮明。然而，汪氏及其他學者主張，與其強行調和此等觀念，不如考慮陵墓與文獻本身便是截然不同，足以並容兩種世界觀。⁶ 陵墓及墓磚，供後人觀覽詮釋，為後來的學者與藏家提供解讀空間，此外更可視爲恆久而穩定的實體邏輯及象徵體系，是幽冥與人世之間的時空鏈接。

最能體現神聖與世俗、天界與凡間聯繫者，莫過於漢墓陶磚裝飾。這些磚塊以泥土為材，經人手盤築、按壓，手工痕跡至今仍清晰可辨，無疑是黃土地的痕跡。然而，以木或陶模壓印的數百種精細紋飾，具有多種符號象徵，充滿質感與視覺衝擊，使其既屬於大地，亦記述天界。山東武梁祠（78–151年）石磚紋飾，教化意義比漢墓陶磚更爲明確，然而後者深具視覺衝擊力，令人一見難忘。漢墓陶磚，紋飾精細而規模宏大，震撼人心，個別紋飾之具體含義，或許在製作當時亦未必完全明確，整體觀之，則可清晰辨識出若干主題。

本組陶磚，幾乎每塊都記述著某段故事、某個歷程。其中最突出者，是馬車騎士紋飾，其含義眾說紛紜：有人認為紋飾乃描繪弔唁者，亦有認為純為貴族擁有馬匹的生活寫照（圖1）。如此寫實而帶學術性的解讀，往往與象徵或儀式性的理解並存，此情況於漢代陶磚紋飾當中頗爲常見。⁷ 馬車方座，上承圓傘，正合古人天圓地方之說，並象徵天與地於人生終點交會。⁸ 此外，傳統認爲，駕車者乃生者，馬車及驅車人在此處 卻同時超越陵墓範疇，象徵跨越此世與彼世之過渡。意象最鮮明者，可參考紋飾刻劃仙鶴引導馬車，赴崑崙登仙之例。⁹

生命之路和其他旅程一樣，亦設有無法回頭的關口，標誌時代的終結與開始。在漢代陵墓藝術當中，承擔此一「雙面神」角色的，是鋪首。鋪首造型源自青銅門環與門扣，傳世作例亦見於陵墓，造型多變，尖角、顎部突出、獸口銜環。本組陶磚多帶鋪首紋飾，提醒觀者前方尚有無數門檻與旅程有待開啟（圖2）。

持戟者與闕，同樣標誌守護與標示終點雙重意義。洛陽最早期之西漢墓，陶磚紋飾多有刻劃持戟男子守護墓穴入口處，神情溫和堅毅，令人觀之頓感安然（圖3）。¹⁰ 闕樓亦扮演類似角色，既為弔唁者標示路徑，也為亡靈升仙，遠赴崑崙之指引方向。¹¹ 闕樓旁邊多有祥瑞園景及長青樹，標示著歸家安息之所，陰陽二氣交融之處。¹²

自然與超自然世界之間，其聯繫並不限於長青樹。從牛馬到鳳凰、虎豹，陶磚紋飾均屬自然世界與幽冥空間之融合。如此融合，體現漢代對外來神話之開放態度，當時正值公元前後之時

，中國思想家開始接觸外來世界，如此現象，常見於同期器物，如青銅及陶製博山爐，其設計靈感可能源自《山海經》等首度闡述外域世界奧秘之典籍。陵墓中豹和鳳凰紋飾，有守護及吉祥意義，相關考證明確，虎紋則在漢代末期逐漸成爲御用紋飾（圖4）。¹³

或許更為低調但同樣重要的，是陶磚上精細繁複的框架與幾何圖案，此類紋飾，表達了秩序與莊嚴感，並有守護之意，而此中意涵，並不局限於任何一種特定圖像。此類紋飾或稱象眼、或曰錢紋，亦有簡稱幾何圖案，設計精密，菱形、圓形與旋紋交織，視覺效果壯麗，令人目眩（圖5）。¹⁴ 此類紋飾，似乎旨在以錯視技法強化視覺效果，深化水平與垂直空間感，並使陶磚更顯宏大深邃，彰顯古代藝匠非凡技藝造詣。¹⁵

儘管本組陶磚出土地點尚未可考，但至少存在三種不同紋飾風格。結合技術分析，可推斷磚塊可能出土自兩至三個不同遺址。本組陶磚多數紋飾繁複深刻，印紋重複，似乎源自兩款相關紋飾：其一為較為厚重、具紀念碑感，年代或較早，可能源自河南鄭州一帶；其二則線條更為流暢生動，年代稍晚，與陝西地區出土作例更為接近。第三種風格，多斷定為洛陽（後證實分佈更廣），特徵為表面相對光素，常配菱形邊框，經水流打磨，壓印技法精緻，飾少數生動馬、虎、錢樹與持戟守衛，與幾何紋飾作例比較，其氣韻更接近同時期畫作及石刻。文化遺產典藏與近年發表的考古報告，皆支持此類判斷。比較洛陽燒溝漢墓出土、帶菱形邊框之象眼紋飾作例（《洛陽燒溝漢墓》，1959，圖版14：1、2）；另比一組例，拓片，載於張鴻修，《陝西漢畫》（西安，1990年），屬於前述線條更流暢生動之類別；再比一組拓片例，前述鄭州類別，曾展於巡迴展覽《漢畫印象：鄭州漢代畫像磚拓片展》，鄭州博物館，鄭州，2017年；本組作例
印刻紋飾幾乎全數可見（但無標明出處）於王振鐸編《漢代壙磚集錄》，北京，1935年；尚有數例，見於河南省各地、現藏鄭州河南博物館，相關圖像與分析討論載於該館網站。

這批珍貴陶磚，由 Buckingham 家族捐贈而入藏芝加哥藝術博物館。白金漢為二十世紀初芝加哥最富有家族之一，三位兄妹Kate Sturges（1858–1937年，圖6）、Lucy Maud（1870–1920年）與 Clarence（1855–1913年）Buckingham從頂尖藝術經銷商手中收羅世界各地非凡藝術藏品。Clarence主要收藏日本木刻版畫， Lucy Maud專注中國瓷器及高古青銅， Kate之興趣則更多元，似乎受直覺與情感驅動多於學術考量，收藏重心為中世紀歐洲與哥德式藝術，與本組陶磚在視覺與精神層面上不謀而合，令人驚嘆。¹⁶ 根據芝加哥藝術博物館檔案資料，本組陶磚於1925年前由Kate自山中商會購得；該商會由山中定次郎（1866–1936年，圖7）創立，於世紀之交在紐約與波士頓設立分部，業務興隆。Kate極可能透過其兄Clarence結識山中商會，並多次回購以充實其個人收藏。Clarence多數木版畫收藏皆購自山中商會，而Kate亦曾數度從山中商會購得更多藏品。

Kate的父親Ebenezer、兄長Clarence、姊妹Lucy先後於1912、13及20年辭世，Kate繼承龐大財富，並希望與芝加哥市民共享。其中以格蘭特公園白金漢噴泉最爲聞名，此外她的藝術捐助亦極為慷慨：不僅透過持續購入藏品擴充其兄姊之收藏，更將藏品連同自身收藏一併捐贈予芝加哥藝術博物館，以紀念其胞妹之名，並設立兩百萬美元的基金。

更多參考文獻：

Pamela Vandiver、Catherine Klesner、Elinor Pearlstein、 施傑，〈Han Dynasty Hollow Mortuary Bricks from Northern China in the collects ion of Art Institute of Chicago, Part I:Technical Study〉

Pamela B. Vandiver，〈Han Dynasty Hollow Mortuary Bricks from Northern China in the collects ion of Art Institute of Chicago, Part II:Technological Study〉

Jean M. James，〈Pictorial Bricks of the Han Dynasty in The Art Institute of Chicago〉，《Orientations》，1993年6月，頁69–71。

Charles Fabens Kelley，〈Terra Cotta Tiles in the Buckingham collects ion 〉，《Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago》，刊19，編號6，1925年9月，頁69–71。

Wanda Odell，〈Chinese Tomb Tiles 〉，《芝加哥藝術學院通報》，刊36，號4，1942年4月至5月，頁54–56。

¹ Jeffrey Moser,〈 Why cauldrons come first: taxonomic transparency in the earliest Chinese antiquarian catalogues〉, 《Journal of Art Historiography》，第11期，2014年12月，頁1–23。

² 自二十世紀初至2011年，官方共發掘出61座可斷代漢朝之古墓，河南省內共21座位，而其中15座位於古都洛陽。參考 Nataša Vampelk Suhadolnik, 〈 Han Mural Tombs: Reflection of Correlative Cosmology through Mural Paintings〉，《亞洲與非洲研究》，卷十五，第一期，2011年，頁21–22。

³另見Lily Nesvold〈Han Dynasty Tomb Brick〉，《Discentes》期刊，2023年2月12日。

⁴ Wu Hung，〈 Beyond the Great Boundary:Funerary Narrative in Early Chinese Art〉Jon Hay 編《Boundaries in China》，倫敦，1994年，頁81。

⁵ 汪悅進，〈 Ascend to Heaven or Stay in the Tomb?Paintings in Mawangdui Tomb 1 and the Virtual Ritual of Revival in Second-Century B.C.E.China〉，Amy Olberding and Philip J. Ivanhoe編《Mortality in Traditional Chinese Thought》，奧爾巴尼，2011年，頁37-84。

⁶ Samuel Lee，〈Tomb Pillars:The Spatial Practice of Permanent Obscurity 〉，《O for Other》，馬來亞大學，2020年2月。

⁷另可參考描繪田園風光與獵人策馬驅虎或獵鵝之紋飾；此乃日常生活剪影，華美生機洋溢，無疑富有儀式意義。尤其值得留意者，乃獵人守護陵墓主人，亦同時描繪獵物之生命終結。

⁸ 蘇哈多尼克，出處同上，頁24

⁹李忠民, 張劍光，《入冥與升仙：畫像磚所見兩漢身後世界雙重想像》，《學術月刊》，第57卷，2025年第7期，頁194。

¹⁰ 出處同上，頁193.

¹¹ 參考河南鄭州出土西漢晚期古墓，一幅與本組陶磚密切相關之戰車雙闕圖，兩側有各一名持戟侍衛，出處同上，頁195，圖3。

¹² 部分學者論述，此類常青樹、伴侶結合及仙鶴成對共享食物等紋飾，均有關於性之暗示。欲更深入探討此主題之宏觀層面，可參照薛好佩著《Remembrance in Clay and Stone: Early Memorial and Funerary Art of Southwest China 》，紐約，2025年，第5章。

¹³參照羅宗真 ,〈南京西善橋油坊村南朝大墓的發掘〉, 《考古》1963年第6期， 頁291-300，引自徐津博士論文〈Engraving identities in stone. Stone mortuary equipment of the Northern dynasties (386-581 CE)〉芝加哥大學，2017年8月，頁 44，註26。

¹⁴ 其中部份紋飾明顯為錢幣，刻五銖，寓意吉祥。

¹⁵ Samuel Lee，出處同上。

¹⁶ Charles Fabens Kelley，〈 Kate S. Buckingham as a collects or〉，《芝加哥藝術學院通訊》，卷39，第1期，1945年1月，頁1-5。