Ps TOILETRY CASE SETS ACROSS LIFE and DEATH in EARLY CHINA (5 C. BCE-3 C. CE) by Sheri A. Lullo BA, University of Chicago
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TOILETRY CASE SETS ACROSS LIFE AND DEATH IN EARLY CHINA (5th c. BCE-3rd c. CE) by Sheri A. Lullo BA, University of Chicago, 1999 MA, University of Pittsburgh, 2003 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts & Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2009 Ps UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS & SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Sheri A. Lullo It was defended on October 9, 2009 and approved by Anthony Barbieri-Low, Associate Professor, History Dept., UC Santa Barbara Karen M. Gerhart, Professor, History of Art and Architecture Bryan K. Hanks, Associate Professor, Anthropology Anne Weis, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture Dissertation Advisor: Katheryn M. Linduff, Professor, History of Art and Architecture ii Copyright © by Sheri A. Lullo 2009 iii TOILETRY CASE SETS ACROSS LIFE AND DEATH IN EARLY CHINA (5th c. BCE-3rd c. CE) Sheri A. Lullo, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2009 This dissertation is an exploration of the cultural biography of toiletry case sets in early China. It traces the multiple significances that toiletry items accrued as they moved from contexts of everyday life to those of ritualized death, and focuses on the Late Warring States Period (5th c. BCE) through the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), when they first appeared in burials. Toiletry case sets are painted or inlaid lacquered boxes that were filled with a variety of tools for beautification, including combs, mirrors, cosmetic substances, tweezers, hairpins and a selection of personal items. Often overlooked as ordinary, non-ritual items placed in burials to comfort the deceased, these sets have received little scholarly attention beyond what they reveal about innovations in lacquer technologies. This dissertation presents a contextualized and nuanced understanding of toiletry case sets as enmeshed within rituals, both mundane and sacred. Chapter Two begins with their uses in life as items essential to fulfilling fluctuating social ideals of beauty and, as sets found in association with both females and males, tools through which gender identity was enacted rather than simply reflected. Chapters Three and Four focus on the layers of meaning that toiletries accrued when placed on display during the funerary rituals, arranged within organized tomb layouts, or kept aboveground for use in post-burial contexts. These chapters employ approaches to the material culture of death developed by Howard Williams, ideas that are themselves based on the classic sociological model for studying death rituals established by Robert Hertz. Such theories provide a framework for understanding how toiletry items may have affected the corpse, the soul, and the mourners differently. As items iv used in daily rituals of grooming and adornment, these sets became entangled within the biographies of individuals, ensured the order and beauty of the body into death, and may have acted as potent objects of memory throughout rituals surrounding death. This open inquiry of the toiletry case set demonstrates the potential for objects in early China to be understood as active within social, political and ritual contexts, and contributes to a growing discourse about the multiple meanings of objects. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………….......IX ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………………………....X 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 ‘UNPACKING’ TOILETRY CASES ................................................................ 4 1.2 PREVIOUS SCHOLARSHIP ............................................................................. 6 1.3 APPROACHES AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK .................. 10 1.4 SOURCES .......................................................................................................... 16 1.5 OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................... 18 2.0 AN INTRODUCTION TO TOILETRY CASES AND THEIR CONTENTS ...... 22 2.1 EARLY TOILETRY SETS: SHANG AND WESTERN ZHOU .................. 22 2.1.1 Shang: The Lacquered Wooden Box of the Royal Consort, Fu Hao ........ 24 2.1.2 Western Zhou: Toiletry Sets among the Yu State Burials......................... 29 2.2 LATER TOILETRY CASES: EASTERN ZHOU, QIN, AND HAN ........... 33 2.2.1 Eastern Zhou and Qin: Early Forms and Décor ........................................ 37 2.2.2 Han Dynasty Developments .......................................................................... 44 2.3 COMMON CONTENTS: WARRING STATES THROUGH HAN ............ 52 2.4 CONCLUDING DISCUSSION ........................................................................ 71 3.0 TOILETRY CASE SETS IN DEATH: RELATIONSHIPS TO THE CORPSE 77 vi 3.1 HISTORICAL REVIEW .................................................................................. 79 3.2 RITUAL TEXTS AS SOURCES ...................................................................... 81 3.3 RITUALS OF COFFINING: PREPARING THE PHYSICAL BODY ....... 82 3.4 RITUALS OF INTERMENT: ACCUMULATION AND DISPLAY OF GRAVE GOODS ................................................................................................. 95 3.5 TOILETRY CASE SETS AMONG BURIAL GOODS ............................... 101 3.6 TOILETRY CASE SETS IN FUNERARY DISPLAYS .............................. 107 3.6.1 Social Status ................................................................................................. 108 3.6.2 Renewing and Ordering the Body and Face ............................................. 109 3.6.3 Embodiments of Personhood ...................................................................... 119 3.7 TOILETRY CASE SETS AND THE COFFIN-BODY COMPLEX .......... 124 3.7.1 Dressing the Dead ........................................................................................ 126 3.7.2 Parting with the Dead.................................................................................. 127 3.7.3 Preserving the Dead..................................................................................... 130 3.8 CONCLUDING REMARKS .......................................................................... 139 4.0 TOILETRY CASE SETS WITHIN AND BEYOND THE GRAVE: RELATIONSHIPS TO THE SOUL AND THE MOURNERS .................................... 142 4.1 PART ONE: TOILETRY ITEMS AND THE SOUL .................................. 143 4.2 PART TWO: TOILETRY CASE SETS AND THE MOURNERS ............ 155 4.3 CONCLUDING REMARKS .......................................................................... 163 5.0 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................... 164 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………..……………….…….171 APPENDIX A: WARRING STATES PERIOD TOMBS WITH TOILETRY CASES...173 vii APPENDIX B: QIN DYNASTY TOMBS WITH TOILETRY CASES……...……….…184 APPENDIX C: WESTERN HAN TOMBS WITH TOILETRY CASES………………..193 APPENDIX D: XIN MANG INTERREGNUM AND EASTERN HAN PERIOD TOMBS WITH TOILETRY CASES………………………………………………………………...237 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………..245 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Items found in toiletry cases of Western Han Tomb nos. 1 and 3 at Mawangdui (Hunan)…………………………………………………………54 Table 2. Items found in the toiletry cases of Late Western Han Tomb no. 9 at Sanfengou (Hebei)………………………………………………………... 54 Table 3. Placement of Toiletry Case Sets in Tombs: Qin through Eastern Han……..124 Table 4. Warring States Period (450-221 BCE) Tombs with Toiletry Cases………..174 Table 5. Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) Tombs with Toiletry Cases………………….185 Table 6. Western Han Period (206 BCE-9 CE) Tombs with Toiletry Cases………...194 Table 7. Xin Mang Interregnum (9-25 CE) and Eastern Han Period (25-220) Tombs with Toiletry Cases…………………………….……………………238 ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have received encouragement, support, and guidance from many people during this project. My deepest appreciation goes to my adviser, Dr. Katheryn Linduff, who has provided not only direction, but a crucial sense of perspective. She introduced me to gender studies, the approach that led me to the toiletry case set, and has remained open to and encouraging of the multiple levels on which I began to “unpack” these collections of objects. Dr. Linduff has also offered me opportunities to publish my work throughout my graduate career, present papers on panels that she organized, and introduced me to her scholarly community of friends in China. This whole-hearted dedication to students, combined with her natural kindness, is the model I hope to follow as a teacher. Dr. Anthony Barbieri-Low has also been an invaluable mentor to me throughout this project. He urged me to consider ideas of beauty and material culture in early China, and has provided constructive criticism and advice, guided me through the use of textual sources, and also introduced me to publishing opportunities and work with museum exhibition projects. My x gratitude also extends to the rest of my dissertation committee: Drs. Karen M. Gerhart, Bryan K. Hanks, and Anne Weis. Dr. Gerhart’s insights on material culture and ritual have been extremely helpful, just as her advice throughout my years as a graduate student has been instructive. Dr. Hanks has been instrumental in introducing me to theories of material culture and death. I am grateful for his inspiring seminar on the Archaeology of Death and Burial, our many subsequent discussions about methodology, and his constant encouragement to take my