Making up Status and Authority: Practices of Beautification in Warring States through Han Dynasty China (Fourth Century BCE–Third Century CE)

Abstract

This article focuses on toilet sets from burials of the late Warring States period through the Han dynasty (ca. fourth century BCE–third century CE) in China. With support from contemporaneous material, pictorial and documentary records, the author argues that these items were used to cultivate appearance and, in turn, advanced social and political position.

Keywords:

• China
• Han dynasty
• toilet boxes
• beautification
• beauty

Notes

1. One exception can be found in the final paragraphs of an article on the toiletries of Lady Dai by Zhang Xiaoya. Zhang acknowledges here that the toiletries found in the boxes of Lady Dai’s son in tomb No. 3 oblige us to consider that men, too, placed importance on making-up (Zhang 2008, 53).

2. As defined in the Shuowen Jiezi, “shu is for managing the hair 疏,理髮也” (Shuowen jiezi 1922, 6a5b [“Mu Bu木部”]).

3. “鬒髮如云、不屑髢也,” from the poem, “Junzi Xielao 君子偕老” (“Airs of Yong 鄘風”).

4. Examples include tomb No. 2 at Jiuliandun (Hubei), which belonged to the wife of a senior official, and the tomb of Shao Tuo at Baoshan (Hubei). Shao Tuo’s tomb contained both human and faux hair. The human hair had deteriorated upon excavation, but the faux hair was found preserved in a square bamboo case along with small carvings of animals, jade and bone objects, and some prickly ash. It consisted of a grouping of 25 individual bundles of faux hair (each about 25 cm long) that were woven together at one end with silk thread and reinforced by lacquer (Hubei Sheng Jingsha Tielu Kaogu Dui 1991, 88, 261).

5. For the hair extensions of Lady Dai, see (Hunan Sheng Bowuguan and Zhongguo Kexue Yuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo 1973, vol. 1, 28); for those of her son, see (Hunan Sheng Bowuguan and Hunan Sheng Wenwu Kaogu Yanjiusuo 2004, 140). Texts indicate that men also used hair extensions. Liji’s chapter, “Rules of Propriety,” includes one bit of advice for men:

“Have your hair gathered up, and do not use any false hair斂發毋髢, 冠毋免” (Liji Zhengyi 60 [“Quli Shang 曲禮上”]; see also Ou 2000, 16). Moreover, men were clearly concerned with loss of hair. According to Peng Wei, the Shennong Bencao Jing 神農本草經 (Shennong’s [second century BCE] Classic of Materia Medica, a text that can be designated with certainty only in the histories of the Sui Dynasty [589–618]), includes two prescriptions for “doing away with” and “managing” baldness: a material called, shi liu huang石流黃 can “do away with baldness除頭禿”; something called yang ti羊蹄 is able to “manage baldness 主頭禿” (Peng 1998, 112).

6. Tests determined that Lady Dai’s blood type was A, but the hair extensions that she was wearing in death were of blood type B (see Changsha Mawangdui Yi Hao Mu Gu Shi Yanjiu Bianji Weiyuanhui and Hunan Yixueyuan 1980, 62). Moreover, a close look at the corpse of Lady Dai on display in the Hunan Provincial Museum allows one to see that the hair on top of her head is clearly darker than that at the sides.

7. “鬂髮玄髻, 光客意鉴” from the poem, “Qi Bian 七辯”.

8. “髭, 姿也. 為姿容之美也.”

9. For a reference to Emperor Gaozu’s whiskers, see Shiji 1959, 8.342 (“Gaozu Benji 高祖本紀”); for those of Huo Guang, see Hanshu 1970, 68.2933 (“Huo Guang Jin Ridi Zhuan 霍光金日磾專”).

10. This phrase is also found in the Shijing poem, “Shuo Ren碩人” (Maoshi Zhengyi 2000 263 [“The Airs of Wei衛風”]).

11. “黛, 代也，灭眉毛去之，以此画代其处也.”

12. One was found in the vicinity of a toilet box at Yizheng Xupu (Jiangsu) and within the inner coffin of the royal prince at Dingxian (Hebei) (Hebei Sheng Wenwu Yanjiusuo 1981, 1–12; Yangzhou Bowuguan 1987).

13. For images of spatulas and other tools for beautification found among the ruins of ancient Pompeii, see D’Ambrosio 2001, 25, Figs. 5–6.

14. For a line drawing of a pottery figure of a woman with a ring-headed knife hanging from her belt, see Gao (2001, Fig. 1409).

15. A similar story is found in the Lushi Chunqiu, only the main character, Liejing Zigao, examines his reflection in a well (Knoblock and Reigel 2000, 329).

16. For an image and details of this work, see McCausland (200, 753, Plate 6; 77, Plate 8).

17. For a translation of the Xunzi passage to which Csikszentmihalyi refers, see Knoblock (1988, vol. 1, 204–205).

18. 姿,資也. 資取也. 形貌之稟取為資本也.

19. The Confucian classic Xiaojing 孝徑 (Classic of Filial Piety), states: “Seeing that our body, with hair and skin, is derived from our parents, we should not allow it to be injured in any way. This is the beginning of filiality 身體髮膚,受之父母. 不敢毀傷, 孝之始也” (Xiaojing zhushu 2000, 1.4; trans. Makra 1961, 3). Thus, having one’s facial or head hair shaved or cut was not simply a matter of being robbed of beauty, but a matter of grave disrespect to one’s parents and ancestors.

20. These figurines were listed in the bamboo inventory as, “two female servants with embroidered clothing holding shu and bi combs女子二人持[束疋] (梳) 枇 (篦) 綉大婢” (see Jilin Daxue Lishi Xi Kaogu Zhuanye and Fu Ji’nan Cheng Kaimen Banxue Xiaofendui 1976, 35).

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Sheri A. Lullo

Sheri Lullo is an Assistant Professor of Asian Art in the Department of the Visual Arts at Union College in Schenectady, New York. Her research focus is the art and archaeology of Han dynasty China (206 BCE–220 CE). She is particularly interested in ritual, both secular and sacred, and the everyday material worlds of the middle- and upper-ranking members of society.

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