Editing Chinese art (section)

====First monumental stone sculptures (117 BCE)====
[[File:Tomb of Huo Qubing. Horse and head of trampled Xiongnu warrior.jpg|thumb|250px|The monumental stone sculpture of a horse trampling a Xiongnu warrior (with detail of the warrior's head) at [[Huo Qubing]]'s Mausoleum, 117 BCE]]
Terracotta statuettes had been known for a long time in China, but there are no known examples of monumental stone statuary before the stone sculptures at the Mausoleum of [[Huo Qubing]] (140–117 BCE), a general of Emperor [[Han Wudi]] who went to the western regions to fight the [[Xiongnu]].<ref name="Duan48">{{Cite journal |author-link= Duan Qingbo | last=Qingbo |first=Duan |date=2022 |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 |volume=7 |language=en |pages=48–50 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |s2cid=251690411 |issn=2059-1632 |doi-access=free |quote=Before the appearance of the large-scale stone sculptures in front of the tomb of Huo Qubing 霍去病 (d. 117 BCE) of the middle Western Han period (see Figure 9), no monumental works of sculptural stone art like this had ever been seen in Qin culture or in those of the other Warring States polities.}}</ref> In literary sources, there is only a single 3rd–4th century CE record of a possible earlier example: two alleged monumental stone statues of ''[[qilin]]'' (Chinese unicorns) said have been set up on top of the tomb of the First Emperor [[Qin Shihuang]].<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link= Duan Qingbo | last=Qingbo |first=Duan |date=2022 |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 |volume=7 |language=en |pages=48–50 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |s2cid=251690411 |issn=2059-1632 |doi-access=free}} quoting the anonymous 3rd century CE "''[[Xijing Zaji|Miscellaneous Notes on the Western Capital]]''"  (西京雜記): "There were two stone statues of qilin [Chinese unicorns]. The flanks of each animal bore carved inscriptions. These once stood atop the tomb mound of the First Emperor of Qin. Their heads stood one zhang and three chi in height [approx. three meters]"</ref> The most famous of Huo Qubing's statues is that of [[:File:Tomb of Huo Qubing. Horse trampling a Xiongnu warrior.jpg|a horse trampling a Xiongnu warrior]].<ref name="Duan48"/>

The Mausoleum of Huo Qubing (located in [[Maoling]], the Mausoleum of Han Wudi) has 15 more stone sculptures. These are less naturalistic than the "Horse trampling a Xiongnu", and tend to follow the natural shape of the stone, with details of the figures only emerging in high-relief.<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link= Duan Qingbo | last=Qingbo |first=Duan |date=2022 |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 |volume=7 |language=en |pages=48–50 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |s2cid=251690411 |issn=2059-1632 |doi-access=free |quote=The sixteen large stone sculptures in front of the tomb of the Han general Huo Qubing 霍去病 (ca. 117 BCE), are mostly sculpted following the form of the original stone (see Figure 9). They employ techniques such as sculpting in the round, raised relief, and engraved intaglio lines to carve stone sculptures of oxen, horses, pigs, tigers, sheep, a fantastic beast eating a sheep, a man fighting a bear, a horse trampling a Xiongnu warrior, and other images. It is hard to find any evidence in China for this type of crude but concise lifelike rendering before these monuments.}}</ref> Following these early attempts, the usage of monumental stone statues would only develop from the end of the Western Han to the Eastern Han.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=徐 |first1=龙国 |title=山东发现的汉代大型胡人石雕像再研究 |journal=美术研究 (Art Research) |date=2017 |url=http://www.kaogu.cn/uploads/soft/2017/20170912xulongguo.pdf |quote=近年来，考古发现的一些西汉墓葬，如陕西咸阳西汉阳陵、河南商丘梁孝王陵园、[32] 江苏盱眙江都王刘非陵园、江西南昌海昏侯刘贺墓园等，都发现墓葬周围有冢茔、庙寝、门阙、司马道等，此时墓上石刻还没有发展起来，除汉武帝时期的霍去病墓、张骞墓外，其他墓葬均未发现墓上石刻。西汉晚期至东汉时期，墓上石刻逐渐发展起来}}</ref>

Monumental stone statuary would become a major art form from the 4–6th centuries CE with the onset of monumental [[Buddhist sculpture]] in China.<ref>{{cite web |author-link=Duan Qingbo |last1=Qingbo |first1=Duan |title=Persian and Greek Participation in the making of China's First Empire (Video timing: 45:00–47:00) |date=April 9, 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ASy32tcsYbk&ab_channel=ChinaOnscreen |publisher=Video of 2018 conference at UCLA |language=en}}</ref>
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<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:霍去病墓石雕伏虎 - panoramio.jpg|Crouching tiger, Huo Qubing Mausoleum
File:Han Stone Sculpture- Horse Ready to Leap.jpg|Horse Ready to Leap, Huo Qubing Mausoleum
File:Stone Sculpture of Boar.jpg|Crouching boar. Huo Qubing Mausoleum 
</gallery>