Anyang funerary bed, Sogdian tomb 550-577 CE

October 09, 2023

Anyang funerary bed, Sogdian tomb 550-577 CE

"The Anyang funerary bed (Chinese: 安阳北齐石棺), also known locally as the Bed of Ts'ao Ts'ao (from the Chinese hero Cao Cao), is a Chinese funerary couch belonging to a Sogdian merchant and official active in China in the 6th century CE. The tomb was discovered in 1911, and the components of the funerary bed were dispersed among various museums in the world after being offered on the art market. It is thought the funerary bed was excavated in Anyang (ancient Zhangdefu), capital of the Northern Qi dynasty. It is stylically dated to the Northern Qi dynasty (550–577 CE).

There are eight known components of this funerary monument: a dais and two cornices with notched ends, now in the Freer Gallery of Art, a pair of gates, now in the Museum of East Asian Art (Cologne), two rectangular slab in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and one slab in the Guimet Museum in Paris.

The funerary bed is important to Sogdian art and culture, as it is decorated with musicians in the typical Sogdian attire and with a Buddhist scene including deities. The ensemble of Sogdian musicians includes two lute players, a flutist, two drummers and a cymbal player, as well as two dancers. Two stretchers once attached to the bed showed what the Chinese called a huxuan wu (胡旋舞), i.e. "Sogdian Whirl dance", which was enormously popular in China, and appears on many Chinese tombs. Tang sources confirm the dance's popularity. It was performed at court by the Tang Chinese emperor Xuanzong and his favorite concubine.

Gustina Scaglia was the first to recognize in 1958 that the pieces scattered in several museums belonged to a single funerary couch made for a member of the Sogdian community in China.

The owner and exact history of the owner of the tomb remain unknown, as the epitaph has been lost.

Sogdian stone funerary beds disappear during the subsequent Tang dynasty period, even though Sogdian influence was probably even more significant in China at that time, possibly due to Imperial restrictions regarding funerary practices."

-taken from Wikipedia

Sogdians.

Sogdian musician.

Sogdian musicians.

Reverse image search couldn't find the source for this. It's been on my computer for a bit and I don't remember where I got it from, going to add it anyway.

Source:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anyang_funerary_bed,_gate_posts.jpg

https://sogdians.si.edu/anyang-funerary-bed/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anyang_funerary_bed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anyang_funerary_bed_(reconstitution_with_gates).jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anyang_funerary_bed,_Museum_of_Fine_Arts,_Boston,_7.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Side_of_a_funerary_couch_depicting_Sogdian_festivities,_Northern_Qi.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sogdian_New_Year_Festival,_Northern_Qi.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sogdian_musicians_from_a_funerary_couch,_Northern_Qi.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anyang_funerary_bed,_Museum_of_Fine_Arts,_Boston,_1.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S10-6-Freer-6723_06-1163x1600.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frontal_from_the_base_of_a_funerary_couch_with_Sogdian_musicians_and_dancers_and_Buddhist_divinities.jpg