Pottery brazier with cicadas in green glaze

This pottery brazier is a burial object from the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). It has four sides that slope inwards, with slits at the base. Notice the animal and geometric patterns on the four sides and its feet. Can you see how the bears are supporting the heavy weight of the brazier? On the grill at the top there are two rows of cicadas, four on each side. This reflects the Han custom of eating cicadas. During the Han dynasty, the popularity of burying pottery figures, animals and utensils with the dead led to massive demand for and production of ceramics. In ancient China, it was believed that the cicada would give the deceased the power of reincarnation. The burial objects that have survived to this day, such as houses, barns, servants, people, utensils and various other objects, show us how the Han lived two thousand years ago and what they believed about the afterlife. Most of the burial objects of the Han period used glazes fluxed with lead for low temperature firing. For the brazier here, a bright green glaze was originally used, but prolonged exposure to water has caused the high lead content to turn to the silvery colour seen here. In fact, due to their high lead content, glazed wares were only used as burial objects.