Research on the Kitchen Space of Stone Reliefs in Han Dynasty Tombs at Dahuting Village in Mixian County

Abstract

Stone reliefs depicting kitchen scenes are an important spatial theme in tombs from Han Dynasty in China. However, current research focuses more on the typological classification of kitchen images instead of the architectural space depicted by the images. Tomb No. 1 in Dahuting Village is one of the largest stone relief tombs from the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the vivid stone reliefs depicting kitchen scenes in the eastern room have left precious materials for the reproduction of the original kitchen space. In this paper, the spatial position and pattern of the real kitchens depicted in the stone reliefs in the No. 1 Tomb are studied by putting the stone reliefs in the contextual space in the tomb. Then, the scale and structure of the real kitchen depicted in the stone reliefs are reproduced by studying the unearthed pottery house model and the space of the tomb. At last, the functional streamline of the kitchen is represented by interpreting the content of the stone reliefs. Through the above methods, the kitchen space of Han Dynasty, once lost to time, is revived, thus enhancing the public’s understanding and dissemination of the architectural cultural heritage of the Han Dynasty.