The Research on the Portrait Sculpture from Ancient Rome and Han Dynasty

Abstract

Han Dynasty and the Roman Republic are two prosperous reigns that established huge differences between the content, material, form, and aesthetic preference in sculptural art. Even though many scholars have researched both Han Dynasty and Roman sculptures, not much comparison research has been done yet. In this paper, the study closely examines and compares the artistic style of portrait sculptures from both the Roman Republic and the Han Dynasty to explore the possible cultural and historical reasons for the differences. This paper takes the Head of a Roman Patrician and the Ceramic Figure of a Story-teller as research objects, which come from a similar time period and represent a particular population in relative societies, and according to the results of the study, most portrait sculptures from the Roman Republic represented a specific person, especially higher-class senior citizens or political leaders. Han dynasty portrait sculptures include a variety of objective groups, from ordinary people to the royal class. The difference between economical-geographic conditions leads to the discrepancy between social production mode and philosophical concept, which further cause the various expression of portrait sculpture art. Roman portrait sculpture continues the realistic style of Greek sculpture due to the need for nominatives, whereas Han sculptures emphasize charm and verve instead of specific, realistic features.