Liujialing Mural Tomb in Guiyang

Abstract

    The Song 宋 Dynasty mural tomb at Liujialing 刘家岭 , Guiyang 桂阳, Hunan Province, which consists of a passage, a front chamber and back chamber with arch roof and totally 13 m in length, was constructed with bricks in a earth shaft. The passage has 7 steps at its front part. A brick table was found in the front chamber. The two side walls of the chamber each has two small niches. Eight niches were found in the back chamber, a big one at the back of the chamber, two small ones at the two sides of the chamber door, and 6 small ones along the side walls. The coffin was found within a brick outer coffin on a brick stand in the back chamber. Although the coffin had decayed, the skeleton is in relatively good condition. More than 70 pieces of burial offerings had been found, including the ceramic cense burner, celadon cup, glazed ceramic pot, ox-horn jar, celadon zhan 盏; plate, bronze mirror, silver hairpin, silver coin and bronze coin.
    The most important discovery in the tomb is the elegant mural and the painting on the coffin stand. Murals were found on the east and west walls of the front chamber, the wall beside the door of the back chamber, and the four walls and roof of the back chamber. In the front chamber, the east wall mural shows the scene of making up, while the west wall mural shows the scene of tea preparing. The mural beside the back chamber door shows the two door gods. In the back chamber, there is a green dragon on the upper part of the west wall, a white tiger and a line of armed warriors on the east wall, the Big Dipper gods and assistant gods on the front wall, the sun, the moon (with the legendary sweet-scented osmanthus tree and the rabbit pestling the medicine), seven flying gods, the Southern Dipper and seven dancing gods on the back wall. Designs of peony, lucky herbs, phoenix and double birds were painted on the roof of the back chamber. The painting on the coffin stand has a frame of flower scroll, inside which there is a fangsheng 方胜 design, consisting of two overlapping rhombuses, two phoenixes in the front rhombus, and two lions playing a ball in the back rhombus. Triangle shaped herb scrolls are painted between the frame and the fangsheng design. The murals in the back chamber together may describe the scene of "yinhunshengtian 引魂升天" (leading the soul to the heaven), which was popular in the Daoism.
    Analysis on the skeleton shows that the deceased is a 40 to 44 years old female. The latest coin found in the tomb is the "Chongning Tongbao 崇宁重宝" coin, indicating that the tomb can be dated to the late Northern Song. The tomb is the first mural tomb scientifically excavated in Hunan Province. The size and contents of the mural make the tomb really outstanding in southern China.