These earthenware objects, from various sites in Sichuan and Henan provinces, reflect the wide range and diversity of spirit articles, or mingqi, found in Han tombs. The two male figures holding drums represent performers who specialized in the genre of storytelling in which stories were part spoken, part sung. Their bodies are contorted into implausible but expressive poses, and their animated faces vividly register merriment and misery. In contrast to these caricatures, the woman, also an entertainer, is elegantly poised and holds a circular object that is either a mirror or a fan. The great number of entertainer figures in Han tombs supports the belief that Chinese of that time saw death, at least in part, as an idealized continuation of the earthly realm and its pleasures.