New spotlight on treasures

2018-01-17  Source: China Daily

 

The life-size reproductions of the murals found in tombs in Shanxi province are on show at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University. [Photo provided to China Daily]

 

How did aristocrats in fifth-century northern China treat guests at an outdoor feast?

 

For a start, there were colorful draperies which divided the dining and food preparation areas. The greater the number of hangings, and the longer they were, the wealthier the host family was deemed to be.

 

And while the guests enjoyed the food, they also watched performances that included dancing and acrobatics.

 

The kitchen had several divisions: some dealt with the butchering and cooking of animal meat, some were used to make alcohol, some were used for boiling water, while another area housed a pestle and mortar for husking grains.

 

The life-size reproductions of the murals found in tombs in Shanxi province are on show at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University. [Photo provided to China Daily]

 

This scene was depicted on a mural inside a tomb of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534).

 

Over the past two years, the mural has been reproduced by artists and archaeologists.

 

And it is now on show at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University.

 

The original mural, abundant with vivid details, astonished archaeologists, who excavated the tomb and 11 other tombs nearby that belonged to the same period, in Shaling village near Datong, in North China's Shanxi province, in 2005.

The life-size reproductions of the murals found in tombs in Shanxi province are on show at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Datong, then called Pingcheng, was the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, before being replaced by Luoyang, in Central China's Henan province, in 439.

 

According to the inscriptions on broken lacquer pieces found in the tomb, the burial site dated from 435 and contained the remains of a woman surnamed Poduoluo, indicating she was from the Xianbei nomadic group. The group's Tuoba clan founded the Northern Wei Dynasty.

 

The inscriptions also said Ms Poduoluo was the mother of a general and minister responsible for receiving the emperor's important guests.

 

Besides the feast painting, archaeologists also found inside the tomb nine other murals bearing different motifs. Their life-size reproductions are also on show at the Sackler museum, together with photos of the tomb and objects found there during excavation work.

 The life-size reproductions of the murals found in tombs in Shanxi province are on show at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University. [Photo provided to China Daily]

 

These murals are part of an exhibition, titled An Imaginative World of Afterlife, which showcases life in a period of nearly 1,600 years ago.

 

Zhang Zhuo, dean of the Datong-based Yungang Grottoes Research Academy, which manages the preservation of the Poduoluo tomb, says the exhibition title suggests that although the bulk of the murals depict how the Northern Wei's ruling class enjoyed a life of extravagance, some expressed a wish for continuing prosperity in the afterlife.

 

Zhang says one example of this wish for the afterlife is the three barns painted in the feast mural. He says it is unlikely that in real life there were three barns set up for an outdoor feast.

 

The Northern Wei Dynasty unified Northern China through assimilation, and according to Wang Yanqing, a researcher at the academy, the dynasty was short-lived but brilliant.

 

She says the Poduoluo tomb murals show that the Xianbei rulers adopted an all-embracing attitude toward other cultures.

 

She adds that while there were indications of Xianbei's customs, such as men and women wearing hats to keep warm, the arrangements of the feast and the riding troops, as well as the tomb's layout, showcased elements of Han culture.

 

A Buddhist statue from the Yungang Grottoes is among other artifacts on show at the current exhibition. [Photo provided to China Daily]

 

She also says that the depiction of people sitting with their legs crossed implied a growing influence of Buddhism.

 

"The Xianbei people came from the dense forests of the Greater Hinggan Mountains. And they fought hard for centuries to survive, eventually, establishing their own dynasty," she says.

 

Wang goes further to say that the group had their own spoken language but no written characters; and that as they were surrounded by more advanced groups they had to blend in by absorbing the essence of these cultures.

 

"Just imagine what a marvelous scene it must be on the streets of Pingcheng," Wang says, referring to the blending of cultures.

 

"There would be people in various kinds of outfits, which indicated many ethnic backgrounds-the Han people and nomadic tribes and traders from central and west Asia."

 

The Poduoluo tomb was listed among the top 10 archaeological discoveries of China in 2005.

 

The top 10 discoveries have been listed in an annual appraisal carried out since 1990, and supported by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

 

Separately, Wang says studies of the dynasties established by nomadic tribes in northern China, like the Xianbei group, have made much progress in recent years.

 

But she says that this is not only due to major archaeological discoveries like the Poduoluo tomb, but also thanks to the cooperation of artists who have copied ancient murals and the introduction of computer technology which has helped archaeologists.

 

The reproduction of the Poduoluo tomb murals was undertaken by Wang's academy in collaboration with a muralist team led by Yao Zhiquan, an associate professor at the Baotou Normal College in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, since 2016.

 

An artist works on a section of the reproduction piece of a Northern Wei Dynasty mural found in ancient tombs in Shanxi province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

 

Yao says his team uses pigments similar to those used by ancient painters, and thus was able to re-create a texture resembling the original murals.

 

Wang also says that while working the artists helped her team discover more details in the murals.

 

She adds that as Yao's painters re-created one of the murals on show, Traveling on Horses and Carriages, which depicts a grand scene of rows of horse-drawn carts, the archaeologists found that leading riders were also beating drums.

 

"We wouldn't have noticed this tiny detail, if we had not worked with Yao's team," says Wang.

 

Speaking about the re-creation process, Zhang says that they did not fill in missing sections of the original murals if they could not find accurate academic references.

 

He adds that re-creation is an important element in the preservation of tomb murals, since it causes little direct damage compared with restoration, which is difficult and risky. And with the combined assistance of quality reproductions, photos and computer technology, stationary artifacts, such as murals and statues of great weight, who can be seen by an audience who are hundreds of kilometers away.

 

The life-size reproductions of the murals found in tombs in Shanxi province are on show at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University. [Photo provided to China Daily]

 

The current exhibition also showcases artifacts and 3-D printed copies of Buddhist statues at the Yungang Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage site of cave art from the fifth and sixth centuries. The artifacts have patterns and motifs similar to those found on murals and objects discovered in the Poduoluo tomb. And virtual reality, or VR, allows viewers to see three large upright statues from cave 18.

 

A headset and a controller takes the user to the cave: When they "look up", they can see a 15.5-meter tall Buddha in between two of his followers, standing 10 meters tall on either side.

 

Then, if the user presses buttons on the controller, they can "step forward" to see dozens of smaller figures in nearby niches and then "ascend" on an artificial lotus pedestal to the height of the Buddha's head, where he can enjoy a panoramic view of the cave art.

 

Wang says she is still enthralled by these Buddhist statues even though she has worked at the academy for many years.

 

"They remind me of a Chinese idiom which is Xiang you xin sheng (one's face reveals his mind and soul).

 

"They (the statues) have the most beautiful faces in the world. Their smiles move me to tears."

 

If you go

 9 am-5 pm, daily through Feb 28. Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian district, Beijing. 010-6275-1668.