In Remembrance in Clay and Stone: Early Memorial and Funerary Art of Southwest China, Hajni Elias examines the mortuary art of China’s southwest “to better understand the region’s memorial and funerary culture in early imperial times” (1), addressing questions such as the meaning of funerary art and artifacts to those who placed them in their deceased relatives’ tombs (2), why certain images were employed in tomb decoration (4), and how these objects were preserved and protected over time (4). Moreover, the book aims to contribute to the growing field of regional and borderland studies in early China (6). Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the book additionally “seeks to bridge different fields of study such as art history, cultural history, and archeology” (7), and “to highlight the value and effectiveness of implementing comparative analysis and theories from different areas of specialization” (7).

The study focuses on various forms of memorial art and culture used in the region during the early imperial period (ca. 256 BCE–220 CE), with an emphasis on the Eastern Han dynasty. In particular, pictorial brick tiles, stone relief carvings, decorated stone sarcophagi, commemorative and ancestral stelae, gate towers (que 闕), and “spirit objects” (mingqi 明器: facsimiles of objects made specifically for burial) are introduced and discussed, with Elias offering both formal descriptions of the objects, and analyses situating these items within three contexts: historical development; regional historical and cultural conditions; and comparison and contrast with similar objects in other parts of the Han Empire. To facilitate this introduction and analysis of memorial art and architecture, Remembrance in Clay and Stone includes seventy black and white images, as well as twenty-four color plates. In addition to the material objects, Elias also examines relevant textual sources from the pre-imperial period (ex. Shijing, Lü shi chunqiu, Chuci, and various classical philosophical texts, etc.), the Han period (ex. Shiji, Han shu, etc.), and post-Han eras (ex. Huayang guozhi, Hou Han shu, Jin shu, Zuo Si’s “Shu du fu,” etc.).

The works of other scholars are well-represented in the book, with Elias sometimes relying upon them to establish historical and/or cultural context, and elsewhere gently pushing back against prior views, offering alternate readings of objects and iconography. Overall, the bibliography and notes show a strong familiarity with the scholarly literature of the relevant fields (art history, material culture, history, economics, religion, and women’s studies), though a few works are noticeably missing.

Elias uses this body of source materials to make several arguments throughout the book. One overarching claim pushes back against a common view that all artistic and cultural influences emanated from the Central Plains to areas on the periphery. In this regard, Elias argues that “the Southwest, far from being a passive recipient of influence from the Central Plains and a ‘barbarian’ uncivilized border region of the Han Empire, as early historiography largely suggests, had a distinct, vibrant, and sophisticated regional heritage that is visibly reflected in its art” (1–2). Furthermore, Elias argues for broadening the interpretations of the iconography found on southwestern funerary art from the common scholarly view that they are “depictions of the deceased in the afterlife,” and attempts to recontextualize the images in terms of what they may have meant to the living, as well.

The book is organized into six substantive chapters, framed by a short introduction and afterword, with an appendix consisting of translations of four stelae (examined in detail in Chapter 6), notes, bibliography, index, and three maps. The overall flow of the book is good, with the contents of the main chapters moving from general to more specific. It is well-written and edited; the language is straight-forward, engaging; and the book should be easily accessible to a student or non-specialist reader.

A brief Introduction presents the book’s objectives and approach, offers a short summary of some of the prior scholarly assertions that the study seeks to engage with, and sketches a clear overview of the chapters that follow.

Chapter 1, “Heaven’s Storehouse: Geographical, Social, and Religious Landscape of the Southwest,” presents the regional context for the study, highlighting the unique features of the geography, history, economy, and culture of the Chengdu Plain and its surrounding highlands. The chapter covers a lot of ground in a very concise manner, providing a necessary foundation for the more in-depth case studies of mortuary culture that follow. The notes to this chapter direct the reader to more detailed studies of various topics surveyed therein, and I highly recommend them to those desiring additional detail and nuance.

Moving from this contextualizing overview of the region, Chapters 2 (“Tomb Art from the Southwest”) and 3 (“Cliff Tomb Burial and Decorated Stone Sarcophagi”) introduce the reader to the primary focus of the book: memorial art.

Chapter 2, parts of which were previously published as an article,Footnote ¹ provides an overview of “the Southwest’s early burial practices and some of the key beliefs associated with death and the afterlife during Eastern Han period” (7–8), and “the typical subjects shown in the tomb art of the Southwest, especially those adorning the brick tiles and relief carvings found in the region’s chamber tombs” (39). Using Yangzishan Chamber Tomb No. 1 as a case study, Elias describes the visual program found in the tomb’s art, and argues that these scenes represent actual activities associated with funerary rites, and offer “idealized representations of life in this world” (56) (emphasis mine). Depictions of the production of salt and alcohol in tomb art serve as the primary evidence to support Elias’ claim, and her analysis of these two activities brings significant material beyond the tomb illustrations themselves into play, weaving art history, history, economics, ethnic minority studies, and women’s studies into a compelling snapshot of these important economic and social practices.

Chapter 3 shifts the focus from chamber tombs to the cliff tombs, with their decorated sarcophagi, that epitomized Eastern Han mortuary practice on the Chengdu Plain. Following a brief overview of the evolution of Southwestern burial practices, the chapter discusses the significance of the sarcophagus as the final home of the deceased, how the change from chamber to cliff tombs altered funeral rites, and the iconography of the sarcophagi and the ways in which it may have indicated family and individual status. Here, Elias makes three main arguments: first, the tombs served the needs of families and/or lineages, rather than living or dead individuals; second, the coffins served as personal memorials to the deceased individual, as well as their afterlife resting place; and third, these sparsely decorated cliff tombs reflected current trends toward modest funerals (121). Acknowledging the difficulty of supporting such conclusions, Elias notes, “Due to the scarcity of supporting materials, many questions regarding the origins and development of cliff tomb burial practice and the use of decorated stone sarcophagi remain difficult to answer” (123).

Chapters 4 and 5 focus closely on two interesting visual themes found in the memorial art of the region: depictions of entertainment, and depictions of intimacy and sexual activity. In Chapter 4, “Fun at Funerals,” Elias first examines the practices of banquets and entertainment as part of mortuary rites through early texts on funerals, banquets, and critiques of lavish funerals, before turning her attention to depictions of these activities on stone sarcophagi and through ceramic mingqi. Regarding the coffins, Elias argues,

Regarding the entertainer figurines, Elias concludes that they were neither “storytellers” nor dwarves, as some scholars have argued, but rather they represented “paiyou” 俳優 (comedians), who often performed impersonations at the imperial court, and argues, “In a mortuary setting, the ability to transform and act for the dead, or to communicate between the dead and the living, would have been considered special” (156).

Chapter 5, “Intimacy and the Afterlife,” introduces and analyzes two groups of illustrated bricks that feature images of intimacy (couples tenderly embracing and/or kissing), and images of explicit sexual activity, asking “Are they simply meant to represent conjugal bliss or a special relationship, or are we perhaps looking at signs of a society with liberal sexual morals?” (161). Following a short overview of the history of early Chinese sexology and the key concepts of “nourishing life” and “arts of the bedchamber,” the chapter addresses each of the two types of images separately. Noting the design composition on the Yingjing sarcophagus, where an embracing couple is paired with Queen Mother of the West, Elias argues that this scene “likely represents the harmonious union of yin and yang” (170). Regarding ceramic figurines of embracing couples, Elias concludes “Mingqi figurines of couples may have been thought to signify a wish for continued intimacy and to preserve for the deceased an important aspect of his identity in the tomb” (179). Explicit images of copulation found on brick tiles from Xindu County (illustrating an outdoor scene with a couple, an attendant, a voyeur, and some monkeys in a mulberry grove) and Deyang (depicting a couple in a curtained bedchamber) raise more questions than answers. Elias notes that the Xindu brick was part of a larger tomb visual program that also included images of agriculture, alcohol production, entertainment, and the Queen Mother of the West, but there is no additional information about the tomb in question or its occupant to help contextualize the visual program. In summary, Elias says,

Elias also concludes that “the placement of such tiles in people’s tombs remains a feature of material culture in the Southwest and reflects a society that was not shy of portraying the importance of sexual activity” (188).

Many of these interpretations seem plausible, but given the small number of these objects so far discovered, and the lack of additional context, additional questions arise: How can we reconcile these images of explicit sexuality with the newly emerging conservative views of chastity and strong opposition to female remarriage in the region at that time (as articulated in anecdotes in both Chen Shou’s Yizhou qijiu zhuan and Chang Qu’s Huayang guozhi)? How might it have been decided to include these visual themes in the tomb of a deceased family member (oh, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation!)? What would this choice of tomb decoration convey to the community about the deceased, as well as the surviving family? Given the general lack of evidence, we really don’t know, but Elias does a good job of describing the objects, engaging with prior hypotheses as to their meaning, and making new ones of her own on the basis of the evidence at hand.

Chapter 6, “Commemorating the Dead for the Living,” focuses on memorial culture outside the tomb, and thus designed to be viewed by the living, including gate towers, ancestral stelae, and commemorative stelae, with four stelae forming the main case studies of the chapter. Two of the stelae are decorated with images—one with auspicious creatures, and the other with xian immortals (what might be) pills of immortality, and the vermillion bird, along with yin–yang dragon–tiger images. Following a discussion of the iconography on the two stelae, the remainder of the chapter focuses on the textual contents of the stelae inscriptions, noting recurring themes of law and order, education, trade and economy, military affairs, ethnic tribal relations, customs and culture, and relations between local officials and Han court, with Elias concluding “We can also note a degree of political and cultural separation from the rest of the empire, born in part from the Southwest’s geographical location” (224).

This chapter feels a bit out of place in the book, especially coming on the heels of the thematic discussions of the two previous chapters (and to be honest, what could possibly live up to the contents of Chapter 5?). While both tombs and the stelae are forms of remembrance, the leap in context from funerary memorials to non-funerary memorials is significant. Only one of the stelae (commemorating governor of Ba Commandery Fan Min 樊敏, 120–203 CE) appears in a mortuary context, with the other three displayed in non-mortuary settings. Other public forms of commemoration mentioned in historical documents from the region, such as portraits of local worthies displayed in the Shu academy and other local government bureaus, and inscribed gate signs bestowed upon families of deceased worthies by local officials are not discussed in the chapter; to be fair, however, these objects themselves do not seem to have survived to the present-day. In my opinion, on the one hand, Elias would have needed to significantly broaden the framework for Chapter 6 to work here, and on the other, the book would not have been diminished had the author chosen to omit this chapter and proceed directly from Chapter 5 to the Afterword, thereby keeping its focus on the art and material culture of the tomb. Then Chapter Six could have been expanded and reorganized a bit to make a nice companion article.

The Afterword offers a brief recap of the main aims and arguments of the book. To this end, Elias writes, “The primary purpose of this book has been to provide an overview of the material culture of the Southwest in early imperial times and to demonstrate its range, beauty, and vitality. … I have also tried to place the art and culture of this border region in the context of its time and provide some iconographical insight into the images presented” (225).

Overall, Remembrance in Clay and Stone offers a strong overview of the funerary material culture of the region during the early imperial period, and provides thoughtful “iconographical insight” into these objects and images. As one would expect given Dr. Elias’s training and background, the descriptions and analyses of the material artifacts are the highlights of the book. Accompanied by solid textual and contextual readings, the resulting work is both engaging and thought-provoking. Elias has done a lot with a relatively small corpus of decontextualized and iconographically ambiguous material objects and images, especially given the lack of relevant supporting texts from the Eastern Han period. She has challenged prior assumptions, offered cautious conclusions, and raised additional questions. The book should interest historians of the arts, culture, thought, religion, society, economy, women, gender, and sexology of early and early imperial China, as well as students and scholars of later periods. For those looking for readings for students, chapters four and five are both interesting and could stand alone without a lot of introduction in an undergraduate or graduate survey course.