The first emperor of the Han Dynasty Liu Bong was an officer of the Qin. When he failed to send workmen to build the palace for the emperor due to unfortunate circumstances, he joined a peasant revolt that overthrew the emperor and established the Han dynasty. Liu Bong located his first capital in Xian in the western part of the empire (Western Han); later this capital was moved to the eastern part of the empire (Eastern Han). The reign of his son and grandson became known as the "Man Jin" period, a time of prosperity and stability. Western Han showed a revival of arts with intellectual renaissance. Bronze craft, lacquer, jade, and painting, sculpture all reflected the change and these arts are demonstrated by the contents of great tombs in Hebei. The intellectual release effected by the removal of Shih Huang Ti's oppression of theoretical discussion and writing led to a burst of creative scholarship.

Texts were edited and historical documents scanned to reach an objective level. Also, popular superstition and mythology became respectable among the educated. The stories of mythical emperors and culture heroes were collected. The cosmology of shamanism is present. The ideas of a central heaven support pillar along which spirits could pass between this world and the spirit world. Ideas of this order entered Chinese art, as seen in the cosmic mountain of the incense burner, where there were immortals, cloud scroll decor. During the 2nd century Han art was characterized by realism, which appeared in fuller measure in pottery figures of horses and riders found in Shenxi.

In Eastern Han art, the bronze works of the traditional kind in massive ornamental vessels or fine inlay of silver and gold were seldom executed. The most notable technical advancement of the Eastern Han period was the development of ceramic glaze. Yet, it was not until the end of the 1st century that a form of green hard glaze was moderately refined. Green and brown glazes were perfected in Henan, Shenxi and Shandong, as well as the well-known Yueh ware in Chekiang and Kiangsu. Figures of soldiers, servants, and models of houses, farms, and potters' workshop were placed in tombs as perpetuating the objects and scenes of every day life.