Funerary Model of a Pig Sty

China

2nd century BCE

Earthenware

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Han gentry lived in relative luxury and hoped to live equally well in the afterlife. They commissioned clay models of their mansions, granaries, mills and, in this case, even a pig sty. Housing a sow, suckling pigs, boar, roosting chickens and dog, the pen is connected to two latrines. Tiles line the tops of the walls and cover the hip roofs. Combination pig sty-latrines similar to this replica can be seen in many parts of rural China today. Gallery G215 Gift of Alan and Dena Naylor in memory of Thomas E. Leary