Painted pottery vessel in the shape of a walking
elephant, his trunk slightly curved upwards, his
ears bent backwards, the small tusks projecting
forward, his open-wide eyes incised. His knees
emphasized with corrugated incised lines, the
surface painted with swirling clouds in red and
white against a black background. From the
upper central opening on his back, where a
saddle must have been envisaged, three
cordoned trappings radiate to surround the belly,
the hindquarters and the neck.
This is an image of a domesticated elephant
used for parading. During the Han Dynasty,
geographic boundaries of the Han state
stretched to include much of Central Asia,
through the Silk Road and South-East Asia,
encountering different cultures and, of course,
exotic animals never seen before. Indeed in the
case of elephants it is thought that during the
Han period, they were quite common in Yunnan
in south-western China. Yet the knowledge of
this much revered and useful animal must have
been transmitted further north where various
pictorial renditions are available, from the most
realist to the least credible.
One also has to remember that during the reign
of Han Wudi, parading of exotic animals was
quite a common sight in Xi’an, and elephants
were probably shown as tributes to the emperor
from distant provinces, evoking much clamour
on the streets.
The presence of such an animal in a burial
environment would perfectly fit into the
contemporary interest (possibly obsession) in
exoticism typical of the Western Han period. The
abstract rendition of its skin, also, which was
inspired by contemporary embroidery and textile
patterns is in tune with the fashion of the time.
