Name: Pingsuo play car, travel portrait tiles

Category: portrait tiles

Age: Late Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24)

The cultural relics belong to: Fanji township, Xinye county

In 1985, when the Xinye County Cultural Bureau conducted a census of cultural relics, it collected dozens of valuable portrait tiles from Fanji, about 12 kilometers north of the county seat. When the nearby Fanji No. 2 Middle School was founded many brick tombs with portraits of Han Dynasty personages were discovered. Since then, the protection of cultural relics of Fanji Diaoyao has attracted the attention of cultural authorities at all levels. The Nanyang cultural relic team first drilled the area, and then prepared it for wholesale excavation. Fanji Diaoyao is located in the center of the tomb area, east of the old Luhe river, and the terrain is high and hilly.

In April 1987, Zhao Chengfu, a Nanyang cultural relic team member, unearthed this portrait brick at M39, Diaoyao, Fanji township, Xinye county. According to analysis of the shape, burial objects and portrait content styles of the Han Dynasty portrait stone brick tombs that have been excavated in Nanyang area, the production time of the portrait brick is the late Western Han Dynasty. The owner of the tomb was likely of the middle and small landlord class.

The portrait brick is rectangular, 35.5 cm high, 119.5 cm long, and 5.5 cm thick. In April 1987, the Nanyang regional cultural relic team excavated it at M39, Diaoyao, Fanji township, Xinye county, and it was identified as a first-class precious cultural relic by the National Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee in 1992. It is collected in the Nanyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and is currently on display in the Nanyang Museum.

On the left of the portrait, there are two galloping cars, each of which stands upright (as in chuǎng, an ancient reference to flagpoles, masts, etc.). The front vehicle pulls a trick, or figure, with a soft cord from its right hand, and pulls the trick’s foot and left hand. The body of this trick was suspended in the air, almost level with the cord. In the middle of the stalk, a skill holds a balance with both hands. The top of the rear car is connected with a soft cable to another trick. In the middle of the cord, he hangs his feet upside down. There is an arch bridge on the right, and there is a boat under the bridge. Fish and turtles swim in the water. On the bridge, the main car rides on two horses, the driver holds the bridle, and the owner sits upright. There is a guide car and a guide rider in front of the car, one horse, one driver, and one rider; the rider is a rod. The second official on the right of the bridge bows his body in welcome. At the top of the bike ride, one person chases the two beasts with a staff, and the two at the top right fight with swords.

The content of the car in the left part of the portrait is unprecedented in Han paintings in China and is an extremely precious specimen for studying acrobatics in the Han Dynasty.