One is the chueh, a pair of high towers that mark the entrance to the burial site, the other, the towered entrance to a Chinese house.5 As the two gateposts are placed on the front edge of the couch they create a symbolic monumental entry into the space formed by the side and back panels, delineating the special status of the occupant in death as the formal sitting couch defined it in life.Ĭarved in relief on each of the eleven panels of the Shumei couch are lively events that do not draw upon typically Chinese subjects and symbols found on mortuary furnishings in the northern or southern regions at this time. The two gateposts at the front of the couch refer to separate architectural forms, each with its own function. Tombs were often multichambered, recreating living quarters, and the funerary couch was placed in the back burial chamber, corresponding to the bedroom of the deceased. The panels formed the two sides and back, and the towers at the front framed an entrance, as shown in figure 1.1 The reconstructed couch is similar to several funerary couches that have been excavated in northern China the most recently excavated one was found in Tianshui in Gansu province, in northwest China.2 It does not have gateposts, but other known couches have them.3 These couches were created to support the remains of the deceased, and show a strong resemblance to Chinese domestic furniture, particularly to the formal sitting couch (chuang or kang) and the canopied bed (chazuchuang).4ĭuring the fifth through seventh centuries burial practices in north and northwest China included the use of such couches as part of tomb furnishings. Said to have come from a tomb in northern China, these panels and gateposts originally stood on a rectangular coffin platform, now missing.
0 kommentar(er)
