A POTTERY TOMB PILASTER Han DynastyA POTTERY TOMB PILASTERHan Dynasty Impressed with repeat registers of foliate and geometric designs to the column front and three repeated panels of guardian figures to each of the two flat side faces, with apertures for assembly at the top and bottom. 70.5cm high (27 3/4in) highExhibited: at the Klagenfurt Museum, Austria, circa 2005.Provenance: Sze Yuan Tang, A.J. Hardy Collection no. CP47 (label).Stoneware pillars such as the current lot formed part of the entrance construction to a tomb chamber. The combination of decorative subject matter reflected a dualistic view of the human soul: separating at death, one part of the soul was thought to remain in the earthly tomb, while the other ascended to a paradise—the realm of ancestral spirits and of the special beings who have achieved immortality.