Fashioning a Political Body: The Tomb of a Rouran Princess

Author(s): Bonnie Cheng

Source: Archives of Asian Art , 2007, Vol. 57 (2007), pp. 23-49
Published by: Duke University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20111346

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 Fashioning a Political Body:
The Tomb of a Rouran Princess
BONNIE CHENG
Oberlin College
Introduction
Sincece) was
theunearthed
tombin of a young
the late 1970s from Rouran
the sixth princess (d. 550
century capital Ye (present-day Ci County, Hebei),
scholars have noted several exceptional features of the
find: her death at the young age of thirteen, her nomadic
origins in the northern steppes, the murals that decorate
her tomb walls, and an epitaph that proclaims the prox
imity of her tomb to the mausoleum of Gao Huan
(496-547), general of the Northern Wei (386-534 ce)
and founder of the Eastern Wei (534-550 ce).1 Much
has been made of Gao Huan's role in bringing the prin
cess to North China in 542 ce as a diplomatic bride
for his son, a move that sealed an alliance between the
Eastern Wei and the princess' Rouran tribe, which
dominated the region north of China. The timing of the
allegiance to the steppe rulers was important, during a
highly fractious era fraught with complex relationships,
when two contending regimes, east and west, each
sought to ally themselves with the Rouran against the
other. Less attention has been paid to the year of the
princess' death in 550, another momentous year for
the Gao, when they seized official control from the East
ern Wei and formally established the Northern Qi dy
nasty (550-577 ce) as rulers of what had been Eastern
Wei territory.
This essay seeks to examine the role of the princess'
tomb at this pivotal political moment in the mid-sixth
century. After introducing features of her grave and re
counting the political circumstances when she entered
China, I shall consider how the construction of her
tomb coincided with Gao Yang's (r. 550-559 ce) sei
zure of the throne, and how her murals help us under
stand what the Gao perceived as "tradition" as they
vied to assert authority. More broadly, this article seeks
to examine the connection between political aims of
aspiring rulers and their role in transforming artistic
trends in the funerary sphere.
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The Princess and Her Tomb
For a young girl, the princess, Yujiulu Chidilian, played
a noteworthy role in the mid-sixth-century political cli
mate. A granddaughter of the famed Rouran Khaghan
Anagui (r. 519-552 ce) and daughter of Anluochen
(d. 554 ce), her family dominated the northern steppes
for the first half of the sixth century. Although she lived
only eight years in North China, the alliance that her
diplomatic marriage sealed in 542 was significant, and
the lavishness of her tomb is generally attributed to her
ties to Rouran rulers, who were still alive when she died
at thirteen in 550. The princess was buried in a tomb
with a single 5.23 x 5.58 meter brick chamber and a
short, level corridor connecting the chamber to a long,
sloping passageway (Fig. 1), a structure typical of late
Northern Dynasties construction.2 The walls of her
almost square chamber bowed outward slightly and
vaulted into a cupola ceiling. Her body was found
against the west wall on a 23-centimeter-high brick plat
form with a limestone edge. To date, the princess' tomb
remains one of the few large-scale tombs excavated
from the middle decades of the sixth century; more ex
amples have come to light from earlier and later de
cades. Hers ranks among the three largest tombs in the
Ye region, and as mentioned above, her epitaph pro
claims her relationship by marriage to the ruling Gao
family and her burial's proximity to the mausoleum of
Gao Huan.3 Although her tomb was pillaged, archeolo
gists uncovered gold and jeweled ornaments (including
one striking gold plaque inlaid with amber and pearls),
Byzantine coins, and over one thousand clay figurines
and vessels.
A few scholars have remarked on the particularly
"nomadic" character of one sculpted clay figurine (Fig.
2), labeling it a "shaman sorcerer" connected to her
Rouran origins. Standing almost 30 centimeters high,
wearing a long, red, wide-sleeved robe and a large hat,
he strikes a dance-like pose. His costume, along with a
24 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART

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 BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 25

Fig. 2. Figurine. Tomb of Rouran Princess, Cixian, Hebei Province. Eastern Wei, 550 ce. Clay; h. 29 cm. From J. Watt et al., China:
Dawn of a Golden Age 250-yoo (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005), cat. 132.

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26 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART

long, unidentified object with teeth-like protrusions,

and South China, it is within the princess' tomb and
which he grasps with his left hand, has prompted onecontemporary tombs at Ye that this pictorial im
nearby
scholar to speculate that his presence in her tomb
agerysugappears to have been assembled and definitively
gests the primitive religious practices of the Rouran?
positioned.8 Tombs after the mid-sixth century gene
that he was acting as a psychopomp leading her soul
ally have murals positioned following this standard:
into the netherworld.4 The figure's large size suggests
constellations in the dome; mythical creatures betwee
wall
its importance, as does its singularity among more and ceiling; and humans on the lower walls. Thus
than
a thousand figurines, but its function remains inconclu
within the broader trajectory of the Northern Dynasties
sively related to the specific nomadic practices.5 (3rd-6th c. ce) funerary art known to date, the mura
Even more scholars have noted affinities betweenin this tomb herald a decisive visual change. Her tom
the princess' murals and Han models, asserting presents
that be the earliest known long, sloping passageway
cause of her youth the princess was adaptable decorated
to Han with life-size guards (Fig. 4). Guards were b
customs after she married into the Gao clan.6no Claims
means an unconventional motif, but here they wer
for either a nomadic or a Chinese affiliation rest dramatically
on op expanded in size and number, from prev
posing assumptions: that elements of the princess' ously minor scenes in the burial chamber to large com
Rouran heritage persisted or that she was malleablepositions
in in the passageway. What purpose did such
visual
her new cultural environs. Both perspectives further reconfiguration of the princess' murals serve ou
pre
suppose that funerary art marks distinct ethnic or of
side culthe mortuary realm? The complex admixture o
traditional iconography and expanded composition
tural ties, overestimating the coherence of traditions
and ignoring the extent to which ethnic markers are
positioned in the passageway presses us to reconsider
subsumed within their function as funerary goods. her tomb in light of historical events unfolding at th
time.
Moreover, as in many families during the late Northern
Dynasties, the ethnicity of the Gao clan was unclear,
given the practices of intermarriage and of constructing
Forging
false lineages in this era.7 Her tomb structure was typi Alliances?The Princess of
Neighboring
cal for sixth-century construction, but her murals high Peace
light details that mask her nomadic origins and instead
The young
accentuate pictorial features that combine tradition andgirl's nickname, Princess of Neighboring
innovation. Some elements draw iconographie linksPeace (Linhe
to Gongzhu), alludes directly to her role in
the mid-sixth-century political network of competing
long-standing Chinese conventions, but the uniformly
alliances. Her entry into North China in 542 and death
large scale of the figures and frontal mode of presenta
in 550 span the decade in which the Gao consolidated
tion are atypical for funerary murals. More dramati
their authority over the Wei. This crucial time frame
cally, images of guards rooted in Chinese conventions
are further transposed from small motifs in the can be divided into three phases that correlate with the
burial
chamber of earlier Southern Dynasty tombs into succession
longer of Gao rulers. The first: military dominance
by Gao Huan until his death in 547; the second: the
processions positioned in the passageway. The combina
tion of these changes collectively draws attentionbrief struggle and early death of his successor, Gao
to the
dominant human element in her grave. Cheng; the final phase: Gao Yang's swift ascent to
The princess' epitaph asserts that her funeral adusurpation of the Wei throne, and establishment
power,
hered to (Chinese) tradition, and scholars have of
demon
the Northern Qi in 550. An account of the political
strated that these murals continue traditions from
climatethe
surrounding the princess' life in North China,
and of the Gao's use of enduring cultural symbols to
long-standing capital, Luoyang. Almost every surface
of her tomb was decorated with imagery (Figs. 3-4).stability, offers a compelling backdrop to the
promote
Fragments of stars were found among remainsartisticof the
changes revealed in her grave.
Even before Gao Huan brought the princess to
collapsed ceiling, suggesting a once celestial-patterned
dome. Winged mythical creatures traversed the North China in 542, the region was already war-torn.
region
below the dome, and officials and attendants Huanstood
had amassed considerable power well before the
along the damaged lower walls, surrounding the cham
Northern Wei officially split in 534. In the years follow
ber like onlookers encircling the princess' body. Numer
ing the Hey in massacre of 528, when the majority of the
ous life-sized armed guards stood watch on bothWei royal
sidesclan was murdered in Luoyang, authority was
of the corridor and passageway. Although similarlargelyico
held by powerful generals like Gao, each backed
nography has been found in earlier tombs in bothbyNorth
a loyal band of followers, although successive young

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 BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 27

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28 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART

members of the Northern Wei clan sat on theplannedthrone attack against the Eastern Wei. Fortunately fo
until 534. After the last Northern Wei emperor, Xiaowu
the Eastern Wei, this plan was thwarted by the Turks
(Yuan Xiu, r. 532-535 ce), fled west to YuwenwhoTai inwere gaining power in the steppes.12 After Hua
Chang'an, Gao, astutely perceiving the court asdied
a symin 547, his eldest son, Gao Cheng, succeeded him
bol of unity and legitimacy, replaced Xiaowu on the
as military leader and immediately set out to assert hi
throne with the eleven-year-old Yuan Shanjian own(Em authority.
peror Xiaojing, of what was now the Eastern Wei, Gaor. Cheng's primary task was to restrain the power
534-550).9 Only ten days after installing Xiaojing
of his onfather's cronies, who posed a threat to his newl
the throne, Gao moved the capital northeastward inherited
to Ye and precarious authority. Chief among his
to avoid the antagonism of Luoyang residents loyal to
challengers was the infamous Hou Jing, who had serve
with
Xiaowu. Despite his transfer of the capital, performed Gao Huan since before Huan annihilated the
Erzhu
as a practical necessity, Huan retained a descendant ofclan circa 530, but had once commented to
the Wei court on the throne, suggesting that he friend,
recog "As long as the Prince [Gao Huan] lives, I don
dare
nized the symbolic power of tradition, embodied by differ with him. When the Prince dies, I won't b
the
ruling lineage and in other cultural practices. able to work with that Xianbei brat [Gao Cheng]."13
With the North now divided into East and Although
West, Cheng was able to expel Hou Jing, he was b
sieged
each nominally ruled by a different member of the Wei by the Liang from the South in 548 and won
clan, Gao Huan's hegemony in the East was largely
decisiveoc battle against them, only to be killed by a slave
in 549,
cupied by major battles against Yuwen Tai's armies for just two years after Gao Huan's death.14
control of Luoyang, both hegemons hoping to reunify Although his death cut short his attempt to consoli
the North. After an initial period of internecine date military control, Cheng likely garnered authority in
battles
with Yuwen Tai, Huan retreated to consolidate his
the cultural sphere at his father's funerary ritual in the
power base, so the years from 539-542 witnessed sixth
fewermonth of 547, said to have followed "the ancien
military conflicts between their regimes. traditions of the great Han statesman Huo Guang (d. 6
bce)
The princess' Rouran tribe further complicated and the Prince of Dongping (Liu) Cang..." wit
this
full ceremonial regalia. Two months later, Gao Huan
political scene. They dominated the northern steppe
wasposed
region in the first half of the sixth century and buried in the Yiping Mausoleum northwest o
a serious threat to both the Gao and YuwenYe.15 clans.Given his prominent role in securing and main
taining
Both regimes jockeyed for Rouran support, sending gift control in North China for twenty years, it
would
laden embassies and arranging diplomatic marriages. At have been appropriate to construct an elaborat
first the Rouran allied themselves with Yuwenmausoleum
Tai and for him and to hold a funeral that followe
established and grand ritual traditions.16 Although it
the Western Wei at Chang'an, sending them Anagui's
eldest and most beloved daughter in 535 towas the young Wei emperor who ordered that Huan's
marry
Yuan Baoju, who became emperor (Wendi, r. 535-551) funerary rites adhere to illustrious Han conventions
a short time later. By 540 it was rumored that given Huan's own recognition of the power of endurin
this dis
satisfied empress provoked a Rouran raid, because she the construction of his mausoleum and perfor
symbols,
wanted Wendi to renounce his primary wife, which mance heof funerary rites would have been an opportunity
both to commemorate Huan and to publicly sanction
was initially reluctant to do.10 The death of this Rouran
his son's authority. Gao Cheng's own funerary rites,
empress during childbirth later that year was intention
ally cast in suspicious light by Gao Huan as a means in theoffirst month of 550, similarly "followed the tradi
swaying the Rouran allegiance toward the Eastern tions
Wei.of Huo Guang and the Prince of Dongping (Liu
It was amidst these competing alliances, with Gao Cang..."
HuanHe was buried the following month north of
controlling the young Eastern Wei emperor, that GaoPrin
Huan's Yiping Mausoleum.17
cess Chidilian found herself in 542. To strengthenThe the rampant instability of the years following
allegiance between the Rouran and the Gao, Huan Huan's
se death and Cheng's early demise made it im
cured for her a diplomatic marriage to his eight-yearperative that Cheng's successor quickly consolidate his
old son, Gao Zhan, who would himself become em
authority against imminent threat. Gao Cheng's chief
peror in 561.11 threat, the rebel Hou Jing, fled to the South in 549 and
During the initial years of the princess' life as amassed
part of a sizeable military force. With it he proceede
the Gao family, the Rouran and Eastern Wei relation to wreak havoc on the Southern Liang, decimating Jian
ship continued to prosper, but by 545 Anagui iskang said twice,
to until he was finally assassinated in 552. Th
have resumed an alliance with Western Wei for court
Liang a is said to have sent Hou Jing's hands to th

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Northern Qi in 552 as a gesture of peace, keeping his
head for display in the marketplace and leaving his
body to be burned by a mob.18 It was to Gao Yang,
Cheng's successor, and Huan's second son, that the
Liang sent Hou's hands. Gao Yang succeeded politically
where his elder brother had not. Imperial annals record
that in the third month of 550, half a year after he as
sumed military control and a month following Cheng's
funeral, a bright light shone from his bedchamber at
night, and he dreamt that someone made a mark on his
forehead with a brush. These curious events, tradition
ally interpreted as omens portending Gao Yang's right
to rule, are followed by an account of the Wei em
peror's abdication and Yang's ascension as the first
emperor of the Northern Qi.19 Gao Yang ruled un
challenged as emperor for a decade.
Fashioning a Political Body
The ascent of Gao Yang into the political stratosphere
in 550 brings us back to the tomb of the Rouran prin
cess. Given her age, the princess' death was likely sud
den and unexpected, but the timing was fortuitous for
Gao Yang, occurring between his dream and portents
in the third month and his enthronement in the fifth
month. His annals indicate that these months were cru
cial in Gao Yang's ascension to power. But dynastic his
tories are silent about the princess' life, death, and the
construction of her tomb. This absence of textual record
contradicts the material evidence?an extravagant
burial for such a young girl, though its grandeur has
been convincingly attributed to the necessity of main
taining strong diplomatic ties with her grandfather's
powerful tribe.20
But the swiftness with which the princess was
buried contradicts the attention demanded by her ties
to Anagui, who was still alive in 550. Her epitaph re
cords that she was "buried south of the Fu River, in the
funerary district of Qi Xianwu Wang [Gao Huan]," the
man responsible for arranging her marriage and facili
tating peaceful relations with the Rouran. The large tu
mulus 300 meters southwest of her tomb is believed to
tower over Huan's unexcavated Yiping Mausoleum.21
The timing of her burial can be gleaned from her epi
taph, which, in the tradition of epitaphs and dynastic
histories, records the date and location of the death and
the subsequent date and location of the burial. The prin
cess died in Jinyang (present-day Taiyuan, Shanxi Prov
ince) in the fourth month, and her body was transported
back to the imperial capital Ye and interred the follow
ing month. Compared with contemporaries in Northern
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BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 29
China, this was a speedy burial. The burial of eminent
officials often required from two to four months (or
more) preparation.22
Dynastic histories, as well as excavated inscriptions,
record a longer duration between the death and burial
of a ruler. Gao Huan's annals record that he died in
the first month of 547 but was not buried until the
eighth. Gao Cheng died in the eighth month of 549 but
was not buried until the second month of the following
year, just two months before the princess' death. More
time was likely needed to prepare for an imperial fu
neral, but the death of a powerful ruler was also often
kept secret in order to allow ministers to prepare for
proper succession or to allow the heir to return to the
capital to secure the court: e.g., Gao Huan's death was
kept secret for five months.23 Burial rites followed once
death was announced, but on rare occasions a body
could lie in state for an extended period of time after
the official pronouncement. For example, the body of
Emperor Xiaowu, the Northern Wei emperor who died
in Chang'an in 535, lay in state for ten years in the Cao
tang temple before he was finally buried.24 Extenuating
circumstances might prolong the time between death
and burial, but generally speaking, the interment of the
corpse followed after several months, implying time
elapsed to transport the body to its underground home
and to stage a proper phase of mortuary rites. Because
there was no need to keep the princess' death secret,
weighing the scale of her tomb against the delicate dip
lomatic relationship with the Rouran tribe, the swiftness
of her interment within one month was either a conspic
uous oversight or an intentional move.
One might argue that diplomacy between the
Rouran and Gao family accelerated ritual preparations
for her funeral, or perhaps that she was interred in a
grave constructed in advance of another family mem
ber's impending death. This latter possibility is undeter
minable, but the regularity of visits from the Rouran
tribe to the Eastern Wei, and the Gao families desire to
forge an alliance with them against the Western Wei
suggests a diplomatic relationship that would have de
manded more than a simple burial for the princess.
One need only recall that the Rouran launched a force
of a million men against the Western Wei in 540 be
cause a Rouran princess was dissatisfied with her status
secondary to Emperor Wendi's principal wife.25 So the
importance of maintaining strong diplomatic ties with
the Rouran would argue for a lavish burial for the prin
cess, and it would simultaneously argue against a
speedy, even hasty interment, a mere month after her
death. Since her tomb is in fact not a simple burial, it
appears more likely that the accelerated preparations
30 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART
were driven by other motives. As we have no textual
record that indicates that she was buried in a precon
structed tomb or that offers any explanation for her
swift interment, our best measure for understanding the
function of her tomb at this political juncture remains
the expansive visual evidence in the princess' grave and
its role in redefining convention.
Establishing Authority
Despite the need to appease the Rouran with a respect
ful burial for their princess, her epitaph contains sur
prisingly meager reference to her nomadic origins apart
from a brief record of her father and grandfather. This
inscription also states that her funeral rites were
conducted "according to established convention,"
but what constituted tradition in the mid-sixth century
amidst fractious political struggles and tenuous alli
ances?26 And to what ritual conventions would some
one of the princess's status have been entitled? Since
the tombs of Gao Huan and Gao Cheng, whose funerals
evoked that of the powerful Han statesman Huo
Guang, remain unexcavated, the princess' tomb offers
crucial evidence for understanding how the Gao identi
fied convention as they shaped their new dynasty.27
For Gao Yang, building legitimacy in the cultural
sphere did not amount to the radical alteration of sub
ject matter or the assertion of an obvious nomadic char
acter, as some have characterized Northern Qi art, but
to the appropriation and subtle refocusing of existing
funerary iconography.28 It is unclear how decoration in
her tomb adhered to ritual prescriptions given her status
as a nomadic princess and marriage to Gao Zhan.
Ritual chapters in the Wei dynastic history describe
canopied carriages adorned with flying Immortals and
mythical creatures, and their use in life by the highest
members of the ruling family, with more modest ver
sions for women of lesser rank, including princesses.29
Although the Rouran princess' tomb does not contain
an elaborate procession with carriages as have been
found in other tombs, in scale and furnishings it is on
par with (if not larger than) tombs of later luminaries
and imperial family members. Authority at the onset
of the dynasty was still in part tied to Chinese-based
traditions, in which the afterlife was filled with celestial
imagery, mythical creatures, and guards to protect the
deceased in the postmortem realm. But beyond icono
graphie links with Luoyang and earlier Chinese tradi
tions, the Gao also asserted authority by expanding
funerary conventions and emphasizing processions,
which were a mark of status.30 This reorientation suited
Gao Yang's ambitions to highlight his own authority
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and affords a more convincing interpretation for the
innovations found in the princess' tomb.
The traditional funerary imagery in the princess'
tomb asserted ties to Luoyang iconography. Borrowing
established conventions garnered the Gao cultural legit
imacy, which in turn bolstered political authority. Al
though most of the ceiling was damaged, excavators
were able to discern representations of stars in the rub
ble of the collapsed dome, and mythical creatures inhab
ited the sphere between the dome and chamber walls.
Imagery from Luoyang in the first quarter of the sixth
century suggests established precedent. In most exca
vated mural tombs at the previous capital, the murals
were damaged or entirely abraded, but constellations
from the ceiling of Yuan Yi's tomb (d. 526 ce) (Fig. 5)
and on the lids of Northern Wei coffins at Luoyang and
beyond attest to widespread use of this iconography
(Fig. 6).31 Stone examples of these latter burial furnish
ings were typically carved with a large dragon and tiger
on opposite long sides of a coffin, accompanied by a
host of Immortals, and additional imagery on the short
ends. The whole of this imagery furnishes a partial pre
cedent for mythical creatures above the walls of the
princess' tomb, although as mentioned earlier, they
were definitively positioned in the upper registers here
at Ye.32 Fragments of a serpentine creature known as
the Black Warrior (Xuanwu) above the north wall and
a white tiger above the west wall suggest that animals
associated with the four cardinal directions adorned
the middle registers of the princess' tomb as they did
the corresponding four sides of a coffin, although the
dragon and phoenix on the east and south walls had
been damaged beyond legibility. These creatures, roam
ing about in a landscape of small trees and rocky hills,
and the ceiling constellations are rooted in the Han
practice of depicting a realm to which the soul aspired
to travel in its postmortem existence.33 A thick red
band separated these mythical representations from hu
mans on the walls below.
But Luoyang conventions offer no clear precedent
for the iconography and in particular its mode of pre
sentation on the walls of the burial chamber and pas
sageway. All four walls of the princess' tomb were lined
with life-size men and women, dressed in long, billowy
robes with the wide sleeves common to Han Chinese
dress (Figs. 3, 7), rather than the knee-length tunics
over trousers and skirts and fastened caps associated
with non-Chinese and prevalent in earlier Northern
Wei imagery. Stylistically their costumes are modeled
on Chinese conventions, once again making no refer
ence to the nomadic origins of the princess, but their
placement alone on the walls of her chamber and their
 BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 31

Fig. 5. Ceiling mural. Tomb of Yuan Yi,

Luoyang, Henan Province. Northern Wei,
526 ce. From ^^1974.12.

uniform frontal presentation lack an obvious model. As
no extant scenes remain from sixth-century Luoyang, a
comparison with a late fifth-century composition from
Zhijiabao (Datong, Shanxi) will highlight innovations
in the princess' tomb.
Painted on the north wall of a large stone sarcopha
gus, or "coffin chamber," the Zhijiabao scene (Fig. 8)
adopts an ancient Chinese tradition of portraying the
deceased in the tomb, notwithstanding the figures all
wear non-Chinese dress.34 Scholars concur that the fig
ure seated on a raised and covered platform, accom
panied by a wife and surrounded by attendants, repre
sents the deceased.35 Here his large size and frontal
gaze enhance his visual prominence. This "funerary por
trait" resituates an iconographie trope from such Han
models as the second-century tomb at Anping (Fig. 9)
into a late fifth- or sixth-century context found largely
in the Central Plains region.36 The positioning of the
scene in the center of the north wall, directly opposite
the entrance into the structure, presents an arresting im
age upon entering the chamber. Individual portraits of
both male and female deceased have been found in tombs
of the late Northern Dynasties, and their settings range
from a simple platform to an elaborate canopied bed in
later sixth-century examples (Fig. io).37 In the princess'
tomb chamber scholars identify the central figure on the
north wall as Chidilian because of her tall headdress,
size, and position (Fig. y). She holds a plaque in her right
hand, raised in what is described as a gesture of com
mand. Three women to her right carry, respectively, a
large round fan, a parasol, and a feathered plume, while
three more slender and delicate girls to her left, with
their hair up in side knots, hold cups to attend to the
central figure, as attendants do in the Zhijiabao scene.

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3* ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART

Fig. 6. Lid of lacquer coffin. Northern

Wei, 5 th c. Guyuan, Ningxia Province.
Line drawing. From Yuanzhou gumu
?icheng (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe,
1999), fig- 7

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 BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body

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34 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART

South
Fig. 8. Wall murals. Zhijiabao Tomb, Datong, Shanxi Province. Northern Wei, ca. 480s ce. Line drawing. After WW2001.7, figs. 6-9.

But other than including attendants bearing ac
coutrements, the princess' representation departs from
the composition of standard "portraits" and detracts
focus from its identification as the princess. First, it
lacks the platform or any setting at all. Second, in the
princess' mural the frontal representation that distin
guished the Zhijiabao deceased and others of this genre,
is not exclusive to the deceased herself, but characterizes
all of the figures in her chamber. East and west walls of
the Zhijiabao stone coffin chamber bear parallel images
of male and female attendants, their postures clearly ori
ented toward the deceased on the north wall. In the
princess' tomb, not only do the attendants who flank
the princess on the north wall stand frontally and gaze
arrestingly before them; so do the correspondingly ar
ranged women and men on the west and east walls,
identified by excavators as musicians and officials. Be
cause figures on the east wall wear varied headdresses
common to officials of the period, excavators speculate
that these were older relatives or officials who had
come to wish the princess well during her illness, rather
than the simple male attendants depicted in the Zhijia
bao example, but damage to this east wall prevents
more conclusive identification.38 And although the
male and female attendants in the Zhijiabao tomb are
situated around the deceased much like those in the
Rouran princess' chamber, they are conspicuously
smaller than the deceased on the north wall. Although

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 BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 35

?'.

%?m If IBs^ ?L.

i i; !;4?;'
K*LJ 5'
'>?* &?"

Wl?
1

Fig. 9. Tomb portrait (south wall, central chamber). Anping Tomb, Lujiazhuang, Hebei Province. Eastern Han, 176 ce. After Hebei
gudai bihua, 2000, pi. 19.

this sarcophagus lacks a separate heavenly ceiling regis
ter with constellations or mythical creatures, two small
winged creatures hover above attendants on east and
west walls. Collectively, these iconographie and picto
rial changes expand the princess' entourage. Not only
is she flanked by six personal attendants, but at least
twenty more life-size figures of varying capacities fill
her walls. Such attention to visually augmenting her
entourage only further enhances her status. Finally, the
interesting compositional innovation does not stop in
the princess' burial chamber, but extends to the guards
in the corridor and passageway, who, like her flanking
attendants, are similarly large and prominent. The staff
age of the princess' tomb walls borrows established
iconographie convention, but expands and accentuates
them in the passageway.
The borrowing and adaptation of previous conven
tions in the passageway was another method whereby
the Gao laid claim to authority-laden traditions. Al
though scholars speculate that processional imagery
was painted in tombs at Luoyang, severe damage to
many early sixth-century tombs prevents conclusive
identification of this type of iconography. Fragments of
life-size guards from the tomb of Yuan Yi (d. 520 ce)
(Fig. 11) hint at the possibility of Luoyang precedents,
but these guards stood not in the passageway but on
the walls of the corridor between passageway and
chamber.39 Similar guards stand in the princess' corri
dor, abetting the notion that those who constructed
Chidilian's tomb in 550 recognized the need to maintain
traditional iconography as they usurped official rule
from the Wei. But a comparison with Southern tradi
tions in the imperial Qi tomb at Wujiacun at Danyang,
east of the southern capital Jiankang (Nanjing), yields a

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36 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART

?.*&**.
m^JWS^m
t^pbC;^JW"*^!lW^i::

Fig. io. Wall mural (north wall). Tomb of Xu Xianxiu, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Northern Qi, 571 ce. After ^^2003.10.

more informative source for features of the princess'
murals not found at Luoyang. Although Northern and
Southern understanding those Dynasties tombs are dis
tinct in structure and construction material, their picto
rial imagery was drawn from a similar iconographie
repertoire. The South has long been seen as the source
of Luoyang funerary traditions, the result of cultural ex
changes begun in the late fifth century, ordered by the
Northern Wei Emperor Xiaowen. It is well known that
Xiaowen consulted his Chinese minister Jiang Shaoyou
and others about Han Chinese traditions, and that his
Taihe-era (477-499 ce) reforms demanded Chinese
dress and use of Han dialect (instead of Xianbei) at
court, and contributed to the decision to move the capi
tal to Luoyang. His policies contributed widely to the
popularization of Chinese practices. Roughly annual
embassies sent between Northern and Southern courts
bespeak the frequency of cultural exchange between
them. But what is noteworthy is not merely the adop
tion of imagery but its alteration in Northern tombs.
Pictorial imagery from Southern Dynasties tombs
lends a different overall focus to the grave, which stems
in part from the location of scenes in the tomb. The
structure of the Wujiacun tomb (Fig. 12) is typical of
fifth-century imperial elite burials near Jiankang.40 Like
all large-scale Southern Dynasties tombs, this is a rect

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 BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 37

*TLj :S?i
WTWWT ~ 'v %

Fig. ii. Guards (corridor). Tomb of Yuan Yi (Prince of Qinghe), Luoyang, Henan Province. Northern Wei, 520 ce. From
WW2002.2.

angular chamber entered through a short, level passage
way with two sets of stone doors, without the long,
sloping passageway common in the North after the late
fifth century. The lengthy chamber offers an expansive
canvas for pictorial imagery.
The tomb boasts pictorial scenes composed of hun
dreds of small impressed clay bricks fitted together into
large compositions, but unlike the princess' tomb, the
walls are not filled with life-size human officials and at
tendants. These brick compositions are better preserved
than Northern murals, but they are confined to two tiers
on the longer walls (Fig. 13). Contrary to expectation,
celestial imagery is not found on the upper tier or ceiling
of the chamber, but a sun and moon are depicted on the
ceiling of the corridor between two sets of doors in the
corridor, and otherworldly creatures fill the upper regis
ters immediately inside the door. An enormous 2.4
meter-long serpentine dragon headed into the chamber
coils across the east wall; a matching tiger, almost 2 me
ters high, spans the opposite west wall (Fig. 14). Dragon
and tiger each run toward a giant Immortal with wing
like protuberances who similarly heads into the cham
ber, but turns his head back to look at his respective
animal and gestures to it with a smoking brazier as if
to beckon it closer. Further into the tomb, on the same
upper tier of each wall is a composition of four figures
seated in leisurely poses beneath trees. Collectively these
two scenes depict the famous Seven Sages of the Bam
boo Grove and Rong Qiqi, a well-known trope of his
torical recluses from earlier eras famous for their love
of drinking and music and their pursuit of immortality.
Within the tomb context these figures came to embody a
cultural and imaginative ideal popular in the Southern
Dynasties.41 Together with the various animals and
immortal creatures in the upper tier, they suggest the
deceased's aspiration to a lifestyle of detachment and
immortality, not the mundane official tenor of the prin
cess' chamber walls.

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38 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART

Fig. 12. Surface plan. Wujiacun tomb, Danyang,

Jiangsu Province. Southern Qi, late 5th c. ce.
From WW1980.2.

This human component is found only on the lower
tier of the Wujiacun tomb, in compositions likewise
composed of small impressed bricks, located below the
expansive otherworldly compositions that dominate the
5-meter-high walls of the chamber (Fig. 13). Arranged
in four clusters facing the door, they stand in a line of
two mounted guards or warriors, four armor-clad
guards wielding swords, three honor guards holding
canopies or fans, followed by three mounted musicians
found directly under the Seven Sages (Fig. ij). Collec

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 BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body

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40 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART

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tively, they form a small procession facing out of the
grave, moving opposite the creatures and idealized fig
ures above. Both Northern and Southern sources are
replete with accounts that paint a picture of an era in
which processions were a prerequisite of the elite in life
and in death. But in Southern tombs processions are
found exclusively in imperial tombs.42
The princess' guards echo those in the Wujiacun
tomb, similarly marking her status and perhaps protect
ing her in the afterlife, but hers continue from the corri
dor into the long passageway and are life-size. Zhao
Yonghong has demonstrated that the passageway pro
cession in the Imperial Wanzhang tomb was derived
from Southern burial practices but was treated with
much greater emphasis than it was in the South, yet
this emphasis on an official procession had already hap
pened in the princess' passageway a decade earlier.43
And instead of variously posed small clusters of mounted
guards, musicians, and attendants, all twenty-eight of
the princess' guards stand full-size, dressed similarly in
trousers, a loose V-neck tunic with billowing sleeves,
soft shoes, and a small cap, and hold either a club or a
long spear with a banner fastened to the tip (Figs. 16
iy and Fig. 4). Six figures, set lower or farther back,
clutch shields behind a red and black wooden-frame
sculpture identified as a weapons rack, and a single fig
ure, positioned at the north end, wears a round-collared
cape draped over his trousers and tunic. They face into
the passage in two lines of fourteen, a permanent pro
cession flanking the approach to the tomb. The post
mortem realm is alluded to by smaller winged Immor
tals and a few mythical creatures that hover amid clouds
and flowers above these armored guards, and by dragon
and tiger compressed into spaces nearest the entry to
the passageway, but these elements, the dominant sub
ject in Southern Imperial tombs, are visually over
whelmed by the life-size figures who confront the viewer
directly and with the same uniformly frontal gaze
shared by all the figures in the princess' chamber. Com
pared with the princess' procession, the fewer figures in
the Wujiacun tomb procession suggest that, for the
Southern elite, processions played a lesser role in funer
ary iconography, despite greater variation in type.44 The
processional figures from Southern tombs never number
more than the twenty found in the Wujiacun tomb, and
in this and other tombs they stand a mere 0.5 meter
high, dominated by the otherworldly creatures that
loom above almost twice their height. They appear to
serve a more symbolic function, rather than the literal
pomp they suggested by the more elaborate displays
in Northern tombs. Conversely, although otherworldly
creatures such as dragons and winged Immortals, drawn
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BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 41
from Southern impressed-brick tombs and Northern
Wei stone coffins, persist in Northern tombs of the
mid-sixth century, they are eclipsed in size and number
by the previously minor human figures.
One might argue that the uniform large size and
frontal presentation of human figures in Chidilian's
tomb deflects attention from the central representation
of the princess and from her individuality. Perhaps these
features and the lack of hierarchical scale indicate a
move away from this practice or allude to the deceased's
youth at the time of her death. But other features of her
tomb, such as the structural scale and number of figu
rines, suggest a privileged status exceeded only by impe
rial relatives and the emperors themselves. What re
mains striking about her tomb is not simply that it
adopted and altered conventional funerary iconogra
phy, but rather that the Gao built such an immense
tomb for a thirteen-year-old nomadic princess barely
mentioned in traditional histories. Among all known
Eastern Wei and Northern Qi tombs at Ye, including
several tombs connected to the Gao, its grandeur is
superseded only by the nearby tomb at Wanzhang vil
lage, generally accepted to be the tomb of an early
Northern Qi emperor, possibly Gao Yang himself. Her
tomb is the earliest known tomb that displays the Gao's
adoption of extravagant funerary practices as they
sought to claim imperial authority. Excavation of Gao
Huan's or Gao Cheng's tomb may ultimately reveal ear
lier traditions on a grander scale, but this young girl's
tomb, constructed in the very month that Gao Yang
succeeded in usurping the Wei throne, must have pro
claimed great political significance, which in turn helps
to explain innovative changes in the artistic realm.
The more modest tomb of another young princess,
who lived half a century later, serves as an informative
contrast to the Rouran princess' elaborate grave and af
firms the broader implications of its unusual lavishness.
Li Jingxun (d. 608), a princess interred in Chang'an fifty
years later, was related to both the Northern Zhou and
Sui imperial houses and also died young. Although not
devoid of luxuries, her burial (Fig. 18) was far more
modest than that of the Rouran princess.45 Li was
found in a limestone sarcophagus, simply carved to sug
gest a "house" or other architectural structure, but nei
ther sarcophagus nor the walls of her small tomb were
painted with any representation, human or otherwise.
She was interred with exquisite jewelry of inlaid gold,
silver, and precious stones, as well as with sixty clay fig
urines, almost half (26) being female companions to at
tend her in her postmortem existence, but there was no
sign of the elaborate honor guard or officials that
adorned the Rouran princess' walls. Regional and tern
42 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART

*?B&*

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Fig. i 6. Guard (south section of passageway, west wall). Tomb of Rouran Princess, Cixian, Hebei Province. Eastern
550 ce. Reconstruction. After Hebei gudai bihua, pi. 47.

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 BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 43

Fig. 17. Guards (north half of passageway, west wall). Tomb of Rouran Princess, Cixian, Hebei Province, Eastern Wei, 550 ce.
Reconstruction. After Hebei gudai bihua, pi. 46.

poral differences account for some of the discrepancies
between these two princesses' tombs, as do the Rouran
princess' ties to her formidable tribe, but it remains clear
that Li's imperial relatives did not feel impelled to build
an elaborate tomb for such a young girl. Furthermore,
Li's death and burial occurred during the relative stabil
ity of the Sui, when her family did not need to assert its
legitimacy aggressively, as Gao Yang did in 550. These
differences suggest the distinctive political import of the
appropriation of authority-laden processions for the
Rouran princess' tomb.
Iconography on the walls of later Northern Qi
tombs appears more codified than that in the Rouran
princess' tomb, with an elaborate tomb portrait on the
north wall, and east and west walls filled not with male
and female attendants, but with even grander extensions

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44 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART

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5^p. *??gfe.-spJU*

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Fig. i 8. View of stone sarcophagus and furnishings (in situ). Tomb of Li Jingxun, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province.
Top: view of front fa?ade; Bottom: view of back. Sui, 608 ce. After Tang Chang'an cheng jiao Sui Tang mu
(Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980).

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 BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 45

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46 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART
of the passageway processions. Another motif from ear
lier conventions, the oxcart and horse found on the
south wall of the Zhijiabao tomb (Fig. 8), displaced
the male and female attendants depicted on the east
and west walls of the princess' tomb, further linking
the passageway procession to murals in the tomb cham
ber itself (Fig. 19).46 But in the princess' tomb, the ex
pansion and reconfiguration of preexisting traditions,
perhaps a prototype of such grander examples, not
only gave visual prominence to human figures in burial
chamber and passageway, but also appears to have sub
sumed the princess beneath their uniform frontality and
scale. While traditional motifs from Luoyang continued
to be conventions as Gao Yang ascended to power, a
subtle refocusing on humans, through the passageway
procession, also appears to have been perceived as a
method with which the Gao could further accrue or sig
nify authority.
Conclusion
For Gao Huan, the Princess of Neighboring Peace was
diplomatic capital, acquired when he forged an alliance
with the Rouran in the 540s. In constructing her tomb
in 550, Gao Yang utilized murals as cultural capital?
as a mantle of authoritative traditions over his seizure
of imperial power. Her murals appropriate conventional
iconography from Northern Wei Luoyang and tradi
tions of the Southern Chinese Dynasties at Jiankang,
but reconfigure them into innovative processions: hu
man figures are expanded to life size, increased in number
to flank both sides of the passageway, and presented in
an arresting frontal manner. The political circumstances
leading up to and surrounding the official declaration
of Northern Qi rule furnish an important perspective
through which to consider these artistic innovations.
Despite the tomb occupant's origins in the nomadic
steppe region (and some associations of the Gao with
nomadic traditions), motifs in the Rouran princess'
tomb served to align the Gao family with existing Chi
nese artistic traditions, while the expansion and innova
tive configuration of the motifs must have been seen as a
way to promote Gao authority as they seized control
from the Wei. Thus, Gao not only utilized authoritative
imagery, they refocused existing traditions to emphasize
the tomb's human component, turning attention away
from an afterlife of larger Immortals to focus on more
status-laden human processions in the passageway to
which only the ruling elite were entitled. Celestial and
mythical imagery in the dome, derived from authority
laden afterlife traditions long paramount at Luoyang,
allude to a canonical postmortem realm for the princess,
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but the procession and scale of human pageantry simul
taneously placed a stamp of the present and of Gao ini
tiative on the first public monument on the eve of their
first official reign.
Notes
i. For the excavation report, see Cixian wenhua guan,
"Hebei Cixian Dong Wei Ruru gongzhu mu fajue bao
gao," Wenwu (hereafter WW) 1984.4, pp. 1-9; her mu
rals are discussed in Yang Chi, "Dong Wei Ruru gongzhu
mu bihua shitan," WW1984.4, pp. 10-15. The Rouran
are also referred to as the Ruru in Chinese sources.
2. This structure was dominant for imperial elites in
both western and eastern regions, with variations in scale.
Her tomb has been discussed in several broad studies of
mural tombs. For a recent study, see Zheng Yan, Wei Jin
Nan Bei chao bihua mu yanjiu (Beijing: Wenwu chu
banshe, 2002).
3. Her epitaph records that she was buried "south of
the Fu River in the funerary district of Qi Xianwu Wang
(Gao Huan)," WW1984.4, p. 9. On imperial tombs in the
Ye region, see Ma Zhongli, "Cixian Bei chao mu qun?
Dong Wei Bei Qi lingmu zhaoyu kao," WW1994.11,
pp. 56-67. The two other tombs are the Wanzhang tomb
and Yiping Mausoleum, the latter believed to be the tomb
of Gao Huan.
4. WW1984.4, p. 4, and Zhou Weizhou, "Hebei Ci
xian chutu de you guan Rouran, Tuyuhun deng zu wenwu
kao shi," WW1985.5, pp. 53-56. Zhou suggests that a
similar sculpture uncovered in the tomb of Kudi Huiluo
(506-562), also non-Chinese, who was buried in Shou
yang, Shanxi, corroborates this theory.
5. This type of figure also appeared on impressed brick
compositions from the Southern Dynasties at Dengxian,
Henan. In this composition the figure precedes musicians,
suggesting that he leads a type of dance, perhaps of Cen
tral Asian origin. Another example was found in the
Wanzhang tomb. See Wang Kelin, "Bei Qi Kudi Huiluo
mu," Kaogu Xuebao 1979.3, PP- 377~4?2; Annette
Juliano, Teng-hsien: an Important Six Dynasties Tomb
(Ascona: Artibus Asiae Publishers, 1980). For a recent dis
cussion of this figure, see James Watt et al., China: Dawn
of a Golden Age (New York: Metropolitan Museum of
Art, 2004), p. 238.
6. See sources in n. 1; Mary Fong, "Antecedents of
Sui-Tang Burial Practices in Shaanxi," Artibus Asiae, vol.
35 (1991), no. 4, pp. 307-34
7. Many sources discuss the question of lineage falsifi
cation, which extends beyond the scope of this article. For
an overview and additional sources, see the Introduction in
Scott Pearce et al., eds., Culture and Power in the Recon
stitution of the Chinese Realm, 200-600 (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2001), particularly
pp. 14-17
8. This has been argued at length by Zheng Yan, "Lun

'Ye cheng guizhi'?Han Tang zhi muzang bihua de yi ge
jie dian," Yishu shi yanjiu, vol. 3 (2002), pp. 295-330.
9. Gao Huan assumed extensive military power in the
early 530s after he wiped out Erzhu Rong's powerful Jie
clan. Gao placed Xiaojing on the throne only after failed
attempts to entice Xiaowu back to him in the East. For
Huan's earlier victories, see Bei Qi shu 1 (hereafter BQS);
on Xiaojing see BQSz. 16-18, Bei shi 5.170-74 (hereafter
BS) and Wei shu 11.281-92 (hereafter WS). For an exten
sive study of the political circumstances, see Scott Pearce,
"Who, and What, was Hou Jing?" Early Medieval China,
vol. 6 (2000), pp. 49-73. The Bei Qi shu and Bei shi were
both compiled in the seventh century, in the early Tang,
the Wei shu was compiled and submitted by Wei Shou to
the Northern Qi in the mid-sixth century, and it bears evi
dence of political bias against Western regimes, omitting
biographies of Western Wei emperors, for example. Parts
of Bet Qi shu and Wei shu were lost by the Northern
Song and recompiled in the Southern Song, using the ab
breviated Bei shi as a source. An additional source is Sima
Guang's eleventh-century Zizhi tongjian (hereafter ZZTJ),
compiled from sources available to him. See Jennifer
Holmgren, "Politics of the Inner Court under the Hou
chu (Last Lord) of Northern Ch'i, (ca. 565-73)," in State
and Society in Early Medieval China, ed. Albert Dien
(Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1990), pp.
269-330.
10. Despite genuine feelings for this primary wife (n?e
Yifu) and initial resistance to sever his relationship with
her, Wendi eventually ordered her suicide. The emperor is
reported to have said, "How could a force of a million
men have been raised for the sake of one girl? But now
that the subject has been raised, what face have we to see
the generals!" ??13.507 and ZZT/158.4905. On diplo
matic marriages, see Pan Yihong, "Marriage Alliances
and Chinese Princesses in International Politics from Han
through T'ang," Asia Major, vol. 10 (1997), pp. 95-131,
esp. pp. 106-8.
11. Anagui sent two princesses to the Eastern Wei in
the 540s: his young granddaughter in 542 for Gao Zhan
and one of his daughters in 545 for Gao Huan. The biog
raphy of this latter princess records that she possessed a
tenacious personality and never uttered a word of Chinese
(??14.517-18).
12. ZZT/i 59.4928-29. The Turks, who had previ
ously been tributaries of the Rouran, grew in power and
eventually wiped them out.
13. Gao Huan feared what Hou Jing would do upon
his death, and conveyed his worries while he lay on his
deathbed (BQSz.23-24, LS56.834). In 548, beset by an
army of a hundred thousand men sent from Jinyang by
Gao Cheng, Hou first submitted to the Gao's enemies at
Chang'an, but later fled south. These events are recounted
in ZZT/161-62 and in Pearce, "Hou Jing."
14. 22QS3.37 and BS6.234-35. Bei Qi shu records his
death in the seventh month, Bei shi in the eighth month.
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BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 47
15. ?QS2.24 and ?56.231. Huo Guang was a power
ful statesman under Emperor Wu (r. 140-86 bce) of the
Western Han, and regent to Wu's successor, Emperor
Zhao (r. 86-74 bce). After Zhao's death his corrupt
nephew, Prince of Changyi, was installed on the throne,
but Huo deposed of him after only twenty-seven days. He
remained loyal regent to the new Emperor Xuan (r. 73-49
bce) until his death. The emperor and Zhao's empress at
tended his funeral and erected a grand mausoleum for him.
Huo is evoked as a model in several epitaphs unearthed at
Luoyang, including those of the Prince of Qinghe (d. 520)
and Yuan Yi (ca. 565-573).
16. Based on a passage in Sima Guang's Zizhi Tong
jian and a twelfth-century inscription, there are rumors
that Gao Huan was buried in a Buddhist cave-temple at
Gushan, which some believe to be a cave at Xiangtangshan
in southern Hebei, but histories and contemporary epi
taphs place his tomb at Ye. For a discussion of textual pas
sages, see Katherine R. Tsiang Mino, "Bodies of Buddhas
and Princes at the Xiangtangshan Caves: Image, Text, and
Stupa in Buddhist Art of the N. Qi Dynasty, 550-577"
(Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1996), pp. 85-94.
17. ??6.236.
18. ZZT/164.5086.
19. BSy.244-45, and lengthier account in BQS4.44
50.
20. Since she died before her husband, Gao Zhan, be
came emperor, her biography is not included among those
of empresses, nor is her death recorded in Zhan's annals,
but their marriage is recorded in ?(357.89, ??8.281, and
??98.3265.
21. WW1984.4, p. 9. "Xianwu wang" was the post
humous title conferred on Gao Huan by the Emperor
Xiaojing (Yuan Shanjian) in the sixth month of 547.
When Gao Yang established the Northern Qi in 550, he
elevated Huan to "Xianwudi" and gave him the temple
name Taizu. ?Q?2.24; ??6.231.
22. The tomb of Yuan Yi (d. 526) in Luoyang, whose
death was ordered by Empress Dowager Ling, had yet to
be constructed when he met his untimely death. His epi
taph records that his tomb took four months to complete
before he could be buried. Lou Rui (d. 570) was buried in
Taiyuan after three months, and Li Xian (d. 569) in
Guyuan after two. On these burials, see Luoyang Bowu
guan, "Henan Luoyang Bei Wei Yuan Yi mu diaocha,"
WW1974.12, pp. 53-55; Shanxi sheng kaogu yanjiusuo,
"Taiyuan shi Bei Qi Lou Rui mu fajue jianbao,"
WW1985.11, pp. 1-20. Li's smaller tomb and its earthen
rather than stone or brick construction likely contributed
to the brief two-month delay between his death and burial.
23. ?QS2.24 and ??6.231. Cheng was not heir to the
throne, but Huan's authority over the emperor is incontro
vertible.
24. ??5.174.
25. ??13.507. See also n. 10.
26. WW1984.4, p. 8.
48 ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART
27. See n. 15. Further excavation of the Ye region is
currently in progress (2006-7), and wiU likely shed greater
light on imperial funerary practices in the era.
28. The assertion of nomadic elements is more com
mon in Buddhist art, credited by scholars to beliefs in the
doctrine of the coming apocalypse (mofa) or as a backlash
against sinicizing reforms instituted by Emperor Xiaowen
in the late fifth century. See Angela Howard, "Buddhist
Cave Sculpture of the Northern Qi Dynasty: Shaping a
New Style, Formulating New Iconographies," Archives of
Asian Art, vol. 49 (1996), pp. 6-25; Mino, "Bodies of
Buddhas," p. 149.
29. W? io8d. 2811-13.
30. The specifics of imperial tomb processions are dis
cussed at greater length by Zhao Yonghong in "You mushi
dao mudao: Nan Bei chao muzang suo jian zhi yizhang
biaoxian yu sangzang kongjian de bijua," in Between Han
and Tang, vol. 2, pp. 427-62.
31. See WW1974.12, and for the painted coffin,
WW1984.6, pp. 46-56. Lids of stone coffins from
Luoyang were also carved with this celestial imagery, and
the interior of one example was painted with sun and
moon. See Wang Ziyun, Zhongguo gudai shike hua xuanji
(Beijing: Zhongguo gudian yishu chubanshe, 1957) and
KG1994.9, pp. 801-14.
32. Zheng, "Ye cheng guizhi." Imagery on the shorter
ends of coffins was more varied and did not consistently
contain an animal.
33. Jessica Rawson, "Creating Universes: Cultural Ex
change as Seen in Tombs in Northern China between the
Han and Tang Periods," in Between Han and Tang: Cul
tural and Artistic Interaction in a Transitional Period (Bei
jing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2001), p. 113.
34. For the excavation report, see Wang Yintian and
Liu Junxi, "Datong Zhijiabao Bei Wei mu shiguo bihua,"
WW2001.7, pp. 40-51.
35. Zheng Yan, "Muzhu huaxiang yanjiu," Liu Dun
yuan xiansheng jinian wenji (Shandong: Shandong daxue
chubanshe, 1998), pp. 450-68.
36. Hebei sheng wenwu yanjiusuo, ed., Hebei gudai
muzang bihua (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe), pp. 11-12
and pi. 19.
37. Shanxi sheng kaogu yanjiusuo and Taiyuan shi
Wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo, "Taiyuan Bei Qi Xianxiu mu fa
jue jianbao," WW2003.10, pp. 4-40.
38. Yang, "Ruru gongzhu," p. 12. Murals in the tomb
of Li Xian (d. 569) in Ningxia bear the closest similarities
to this frontal presentation, but additional murals enhance
his passageway in other ways. See WWi985.11.
39. Xu Chanfei, "Luoyang Bei Wei Yuan Yi mu bi
hua," WW2002.2, pp. 89-92. The extant imagery was re
constructed.
40. Luo Zongzhen, "Liu chao lingmu maizang zhidu
zongshu," Zhongguo kaogu xuehui di yi ci nian hui
(1986); Zheng, Bihua mu yanjiu, pp. 62-70. Tombs in
this area varied in size according to the date and tomb oc
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cupant's status. The largest tombs, like the imperial tombs
at Wujiacun and Jinjiacun, reached 1: 8-10, w: 4.9-6.7,
and h: 4.35-6.7 m; the next larger tomb were barely half
this size.
41. The Seven Sages lived in the third century ce;
Rong Qiqi was a kindred spirit from the fifth century bce
who is said to have achieved immortality. On these images,
see Yao Qian and Gu Bing, Liu chao yishu (Beijing:
Wenwu chubanshe, 1981); Audrey Spiro, Contemplating
the Ancients (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1990). For a brief discussion of technique, see Watt et al.,
Dawn of a Golden Age, pp. 206-9.
42. Smaller tombs also lack the dragon and tiger com
positions, depicting only the Seven Sages and Rong Qiqi.
Although conclusive dates and identity of the deceased in
specific tombs are uncertain, most scholars concur that
this range of iconography, with its emphasis on Immortals,
was popular in fifth-century elite tombs of the Southern Qi
and early Liang dynasties.
43. Zhao, "You mushi dao mudao."
44. The mounted guards and musicians found in
Southern tomb murals are absent from those in the North,
though they are found in sculpted form among figurines in
most tombs. In later Northern tombs of higher-ranking in
dividuals, the processions are more varied.
45. For her tomb, see Tang Jinyu, "Xi'an xi jiao Sui Li
Jingxun mu fajue jianbao," KG1959.9, pp. 471-72.
46. A Northern Wei mural tomb excavated in Datong
in 2005 contains an early version of this motif on the
chamber walls, but it does not extend into the shorter pas
sageway, whose remains measured 10 meters. For prelimi
nary data on this tomb, see "Shanxi Datong Shiling faxian
Bei Wei bihua mu," Zhongguo wenwu bao, 24 February
2006, and National Cultural Relics Bureau, ed., 2005
Zhongguo zhongya kaogu faxian (Beijing: Wenwu chu
banshe, 2006), pp. 115-22.
Characters
Anagui (d. 552) MMM
Anluochen (d. 554) HHM
Anping ^^p
Chang'an H^
Cixian MM
Caotang Temple ^^{^^
Danyang fl-H
Datong -XW\
Eastern Wei ^M
Empress Dowager Ling Mvfc/n
Fu River ?7R
Gao Cheng (Deng) ?#?M
Gao Huan (Xianwu wang, Xianwu di) ft 1ft ? IRjSzE '
Gao Yang (Wenxuan, r. 550-559) ii?# ? ;$;j?
Gao Zhan (Wucheng r. 561-565) B??? ? ?)S
Hou Jing g||
 BONNIE CHENG Fashioning a Political Body 49

Hu m Sui Pf
Huo Guang lE^fe Taiwu Emperor (Shizu, r. 424-451) iciK?tf ' tftffi
Jiang Shaoyou M'J^?W Wanzhang }!fr$
Jiankang ?? Wendi (Yuan Baoju, r. 535-551) ^^ > 7C?ffi
Jingling M?E Wujiacun ^Mf?
Kudi Huiluo MikMf? Xianbei fi^
Liang %? Xiangtangshan SSlil
Lijingxun(d. 608) ^f?fjfl Xiaojing Emperor (Yuan Shanjian, r. 534-550) #j#Sr '
LiXian (d. 569) ^R
Linhe Gongzhu (d. 550) H^P?? Xiaowen Emperor (Yuan Hong, r. 471-499) #3titf '
Lou Rui (d. 570) HIR
Luoyang r#[S Xiaowu Emperor (Yuan Xiu, r. 532-535) #S^ ' 7??I?
Northern Qi itW xuanwu 2^g;
Northern Wei jtM Xuanwu Emperor (Yuan Ke, d. 515) fiA?? ? tt:1#
Northern Zhou jfcM Xu Xianxiu (d. 569) f?Wf?
Pingcheng ^i$c Ye *
Prince Dongping (Liu Cang) ^^P3E > S?? Yifu ZM
Qi W Yiping Mausoleum (ling) ?ff?!
Rong Qiqi |gf?l? Yuan Yi (d. 526) 7?X
Rouran ^f& Yuan Yi (Qinghe Wang, d. 526) 7?I? > iM?
Ruru i?j? ? ?n?p Yujiulu (abbreviated Lu) Chidilian f^B ( H ) Bfci
Ruru Gongzhu ?n?n?? Yuwen Tai ^~X^
Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (Zhulin qixian) t^T# Zhijiabao ?^S

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