Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Model of a Two-Story House
Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE)
Not on view
This model of a stilt house comprises an L-shaped main building, which may have been the residential space, and a rectangular courtyard for keeping livestock (five pottery swine populate the present example). Illustrating many characteristics of the present-day architecture and way of life in southern China, this type of elevated house may have emerged in response to the hot, humid climate of the south. While the practical two-story stilt-style house is local to the region, the courtyard layout may have been adopted from the China Central Plain.
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