Funerary Model of a Horseshoe-shaped Stove

Pottery models such as this were common features within the furnishings of Han tombs that were intended to supply the occupant with the necessities required for sustenance in the afterlife. Not only do they document religious practices in which the life in the hereafter was identified with that of the living, but they also accurately record early Chinese architectural forms that are no longer extant.

The symbolic horseshoe-shaped stove with its two burners is ornamented in low relief with depictions of kitchen utensils and foodstuffs, including a turtle.