The hybrid origin of the dragon-wrapped column in Han dynasty China

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is the first thorough account of the dragon-wrapped column in a Western language. In contrast to previous scholarship, this study finds that the initial prototype of the dragon-wrapped column dates to the Han dynasty rather than the Song dynasty. This study delves into the imagery of dragon-wrapped columns and other dragon-related serpentine columns in Han literature and in artifacts discovered in Han tombs. It also addresses the thinking process of “wrapping the column,” referencing earlier instances of wrapped columns that served as the technological and conceptual ground for creating the dragon-wrapped column at the time. Furthermore, this article demonstrates that the use of a helical design on the bodies of columns is not exclusive to ancient Chinese art but is also present in ancient Greco-Roman art of the eastern Mediterranean region, where it may have originated from the Mesopotamian serpent-wrapped column. Meanwhile, the numerous foreign images and Western Asian–style objects uncovered in Han tomb excavations in southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu provinces and all along the coast indicate that these regions had close maritime trade and cultural exchange channels with the West.