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.