DOI Heft:
Nr. 332 (January 1925)
DOI Artikel:Comstock, Helen: Tomb figures of old China
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19984#0046
inceRnACionAL
SARCOPHAGUS OF SOAPSTONE AND T ANG FIGURES IN GLAZED TERRA-COTTA In the P.oyal Ontario Museum of Archeology
in the tomb figures; just wny is a matter of con- ing account of this sixth-century expedition is a
jecture. Perhaps they used some perishable mate- translation taken from De Groot:
rial, such as straw. It is true that figurines of these "Over the tumulus of King Ngai molten iron
two periods exist, but they are Buddhistic in sub- had been poured and it was not opened until three
ject and were not intended for the tomb. Paper days had been spent in boring and chiseling. A
is the favorite medium today. Paper duplicates yellowish mist inside so disagreeably affected the
of a man's possessions are nose and eyes as to render
burned at the funeral cere- t'ang. dancer Collection oj a. w. Babr it impossible to enter.
mony, and among them
are to be seen paper auto-
mobiles which are the last
word in a funeral ritual
that goes back nearly four
thousand years.
The Chinese buried
their dead above the
ground in artificial mounds
which took the form of
magnificent temples or
palaces in the case of the
exalted in rank. Here is a
description of the interior
of the tomb of Ngai, a
ruler of the Wei dynasty,
as it looked to those who
entered it in the sixth cen-
tury, according to the
Miscellanies About the
\ \ estern Metropolis. Tomb
figures forming both a
seraglio and a military
guard were found here,
although this is a compar-
atively early tomb. In a
nearby grave of about the
same period actual skele-
tons of men and women
were found instead of the
clay effigies which accom-
panied Ngai. The follow-
Therefore the grave was
left to the care of a guard
of soldiers and after seven
days the mist had cleared
away. Then first a door
which had neither rings
nor bolts was found, and
subsequently a couch of
granite four feet square.
On this couch stood a stool
of stone, on both the right
and the left side of which
there were in attendance
three stone images in a
standing attitude, all wear-
ing military caps and gir-
dles and swords. Then
came a second stone door
of one leaf only, well pro-
vided with bars and bolts.
Having broken it open the
eye fell on a coffin the
black color of which was
so bright that it cast a
glare over the men. Sword
strokes had no effect upon
it; but when they attacked
it with heated saws they
found it to consist of sun-
dry varnished rhinoceros
hides; it was several inches
thick and the hides were
three hundred six
january I925
SARCOPHAGUS OF SOAPSTONE AND T ANG FIGURES IN GLAZED TERRA-COTTA In the P.oyal Ontario Museum of Archeology
in the tomb figures; just wny is a matter of con- ing account of this sixth-century expedition is a
jecture. Perhaps they used some perishable mate- translation taken from De Groot:
rial, such as straw. It is true that figurines of these "Over the tumulus of King Ngai molten iron
two periods exist, but they are Buddhistic in sub- had been poured and it was not opened until three
ject and were not intended for the tomb. Paper days had been spent in boring and chiseling. A
is the favorite medium today. Paper duplicates yellowish mist inside so disagreeably affected the
of a man's possessions are nose and eyes as to render
burned at the funeral cere- t'ang. dancer Collection oj a. w. Babr it impossible to enter.
mony, and among them
are to be seen paper auto-
mobiles which are the last
word in a funeral ritual
that goes back nearly four
thousand years.
The Chinese buried
their dead above the
ground in artificial mounds
which took the form of
magnificent temples or
palaces in the case of the
exalted in rank. Here is a
description of the interior
of the tomb of Ngai, a
ruler of the Wei dynasty,
as it looked to those who
entered it in the sixth cen-
tury, according to the
Miscellanies About the
\ \ estern Metropolis. Tomb
figures forming both a
seraglio and a military
guard were found here,
although this is a compar-
atively early tomb. In a
nearby grave of about the
same period actual skele-
tons of men and women
were found instead of the
clay effigies which accom-
panied Ngai. The follow-
Therefore the grave was
left to the care of a guard
of soldiers and after seven
days the mist had cleared
away. Then first a door
which had neither rings
nor bolts was found, and
subsequently a couch of
granite four feet square.
On this couch stood a stool
of stone, on both the right
and the left side of which
there were in attendance
three stone images in a
standing attitude, all wear-
ing military caps and gir-
dles and swords. Then
came a second stone door
of one leaf only, well pro-
vided with bars and bolts.
Having broken it open the
eye fell on a coffin the
black color of which was
so bright that it cast a
glare over the men. Sword
strokes had no effect upon
it; but when they attacked
it with heated saws they
found it to consist of sun-
dry varnished rhinoceros
hides; it was several inches
thick and the hides were
three hundred six
january I925