Stone men and women embrace

[Stone men and women embracing]

Stone men and women embracing, Eastern Han Dynasty, 51.5cm high, 43cm wide
One male and one female. The man wears a crown, the right arm is around the woman’s shoulder, and the right hand is over the woman’s right breast. The woman’s left hand rests on the man’s left shoulder. The two sat side by side and hugged each other, making a kiss. This tomb is a two-chamber tomb where couples are buried together. Men and women embrace and kiss each other, which is a manifestation of the life of the tomb owner’s husband and wife
This kind of image, known as “secret play picture”, often appears in the stone reliefs in Shandong Province and the terracotta figurines in Luzhou, Sichuan Province. Whether it is to pray for the love of husband and wife, to live and die together, or to pray for more children and grandchildren, to spread incense, or has other significance, which needs further study
This male and female hugging statue was originally placed on the lintel on the third floor of the tomb gate of No. 550 Zhaizishan, Pengshan, Sichuan. The tomb was excavated in 1941 by the “Chuankang Ancient Sites Investigation Group”. The discovery of the Hug Statue caused a great sensation at that time, and also made the excavators feel uneasy. According to the usual practice, it will be kept in place, but at that time, many people came to watch it, and the wheat seedlings in the surrounding fields were seriously trampled, causing the landlord’s dissatisfaction; People who maintain ethics also want to destroy this “indecent” thing. Forced by this, Wu Jinding had to write to Li Ji, who was then the director of the Preparatory Office of the National Central Museum and the head of the Archaeological Group of the Institute of History and Language of the Central Academy of Sciences, and put forward a proposal to chisel the image. Li Ji agreed to the proposal. With the joint efforts of archaeologists and stonemasons, the embracing statue was finally cut intact and transported to the warehouse of the Preparatory Office of the Central Museum for preservation. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, it was transported to the Nanjing Museum and then transferred to the Beijing Palace Museum