The Lady with the Phoenix Crown

Transcription

1 :32 Uhr Seite 1 The Tang Dynasty (AD ), China s Golden Age, was a flourishing period teeming with fascinating cultural phenomena. At the centre of this cosmopolitan empire lay the capital city of Chang an one of the largest metropolises of its time and now hidden below present-day Xi an. Aristocrats as protagonists of courtly life shaped the character of the city, their luxurious everyday life equally reflected in lavishly furnished tombs. Nowadays, most of these tombs are found robbed. Evidence of the former splendour of these subterranean chambers only survives in the form of marvellous wall paintings and clay figurines disregarded by the grave robbers. The undisturbed tomb of Li Chui who had died in AD 736, a descendant of Emperor Gaozu, was excavated in Xi an in It took a German-Chinese team six years to restore the intricate grave furnishings. For the first time, it was possible to reconstruct the opulent jewellery assemblage of a Tang-period noblewoman. In conjunction with the results of scientific analyses by a team of specialists from various disciplines it was possible to obtain new insights into Tang-period burial culture. This is the first time that these results are presented to a wider English-speaking public. Richly-illustrated appendices throughout the text provide further insights into Tang-period everyday life ISBN Filip Hilgner (eds) The Lady with the Phoenix Crown Li Chui_Cover_engl_d:Layout 1 The Lady with the Phoenix Crown Tang-Period Grave Goods of the Noblewoman Li Chui ( ) Sonja Filip Alexandra Hilgner (eds)

2 Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Forschungsinstitut für Archäologie Sonja Filip Alexandra Hilgner (eds) The Lady with the Phoenix Crown Tang-Period Grave Goods of the Noblewoman Li Chui ( ) With contributions by Guje Kroh Peter Kupfer Shing Müller Elmar Oberfrank Florian Ströbele and Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Regensburg / Mainz 2014

3 Contents 1 Susanne Greiff Opening Remarks 4 Sonja Filip Alexandra Hilgner Preface 7 Alexandra Hilgner Discovery and Excavation 11 Alexandra Hilgner Methods of Research the Block-lifting of Finds 15 Sonja Filip»As the White Jade Sank beneath the Earth...«the Life and Death of the Deceased, Based on Her Epitaph 21 Sonja Filip Li Chui in Her Time: from the Beginning of the Tang Dynasty to the Rebellion in AD Sonja Filip A Matter of Piety and Status Tomb Complexes in and around Xi an 35 Sonja Filip Preparations for»the Long Night«Burial Customs in Tang-period China 41 Sonja Filip Funerary Ceramics as an Image of Life 50 Guje Kroh Trends in the Intellectual History of the Tang Dynasty 58 Sonja Filip Imperishable Splendour Li Chui s Jewellery 74 Shing Müller From Slim Skirts to Flowing Gowns Tang Fashion through Time 78 Alexandra Hilgner An Orchard Full of Dancers Exotic Objects in the Headdress 82 Sonja Filip Shiny Silver and Shimmery Mother-of- Pearl Three Opulent Mirrors as Beauty Products 86 Peter Kupfer Jade Nectar and Amber Sparkle Wine in Ancient China 90 Sonja Filip Alexandra Hilgner Lacquer Boxes Exclusive Requisites for Storage 95 Alexandra Hilgner Methods of Research the Conservation of Archaeological Lacquer Objects 98 Sonja Filip Luxury Goods and Useful Utensils the Metal Vessels in Li Chui s Tomb 109 Florian Ströbele Methods of Research Analysis of Tang Silver Objects 112 Elmar Oberfrank The Quest for Immortality Alchemy in the Tang Dynasty 116 Sonja Filip Alexandra Hilgner A Virtuous Lady of Noble Origin and Jade-like Beauty from Dry Facts to a Vivid Image 131 Pronunciation Guide for the Chinese Terms and Names 133 Illustration Acknowledgements 135 List of Contributors

4 The restored and reconstructed headdress of Li Chui. VI

5 Opening Remarks When it comes to the presentation of ar chaeo log i cal finds, the media frequently likes to resort to superlatives. It appears that, without cessation, somewhere in this world»ar chaeo log i cal sensations«come to light in one excavation or the other. By comparison, our»lady with the Phoenix Crown«comes along rather quietly. More than 1200 years after her death in AD 736, Li Chui lets us catch a tiny, almost surreptitious glimpse of her life and her death. What is so special about this grave? It is rare that archaeology touches us as closely as is the case with our protagonist Li Chui. The inscription dedicated to her on the epitaph discovered in the grave gives away far more about the person than could ever be learnt from the recovered objects alone. Li Chui s life and death contain all the makings of a veritable melodrama: romantic love for a man from far away, a young wife with Confucian virtues, an ailment which ultimately causes her death, a small child that loses its mother prematurely, and a husband bowed down with grief. Her family ties, as mentioned on the epitaph, to the imperial house of the Tang Dynasty portray her as a lady of elevated rank, even though the title of princess had not been bestowed upon her. The tomb discovered on the construction site of a university to the south of Xi an, the up-and-coming capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi, is faced with stiff ar chae o log i cal competition within its immediate neighbourhood. Shaanxi Province, and notably the region around the metropolis Xi an, boasts a particularly rich and varied ar chae o log i cal heritage. The Qin Dynasty Terracotta Army of the first Emperor Qin Shihuang was found in the immediate vicinity, just like many thousands of other graves. Here we encounter imperial mausolea next to graves of the high aristocracy and leading state officials from various periods. It was thus no coincidence that a branch office of the Römisch- Ger mani sches Zentralmuseum Mainz (RGZM) was set up here. Generously funded by the Ger man Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) from its inception in the 1990ies, German and Chinese experts are joined in the conservation and research of high-level cultural artefacts from the Qin- to Tang Dynasties (thus ranging in date approximately between the 3 rd century BC and the 10 th century AD). It is not merely because of the dramatic and romantic life story of the deceased that the tomb can be considered as particularly valuable, but also because of the grave finds, for there are hardly any tombs of higher-ranking Tang Dynasty individuals that have not subsequently been robbed. For the first time in Chinese archaeology it was possible, in the German-Chinese project workshops at the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi an, to completely restore the undisturbed grave furnishings of a Tang-period noblewoman which had been excavated under controlled conditions. Opening Remarks 1

6 Apart from the exceptional professional expertise of the conservators (Annegret Gerick, Friederike Moll-Dau, Stephan Ritter, Eva Ritz and Andree Forßbohm), the scheme s success was equally rooted in the excavator Ma Zhijun s wise decision to block-lift the intricate components of the jewellery. The procedure of block lifting is discussed extensively in the text. The next stage involved the complex work of securing the various small and intricate components and documenting their positions. And now there are, after all, some superlatives concerning the ar chae o log i cal and culture-historical relevance of the finds assemblages from the tomb of Li Chui: based on ar chae o log i cal evidence the exact construction, materials and details of a Tang-period headdress were meticulously recreated for the first time. Previously, reconstructions had to resort to individually retrieved fragments from rescue excavations and depictions on wall paintings. The same can be said about the sash-like ornamental waistband intricately decorated with a network of pearls and turquoise and even more so about the two long decorative golden cloisonné pendants. No such belt-pendant has ever been mentioned, let alone illustrated, in any documentary sources. The enormous gain in information about Tang-period jewellery achieved through systematic and meticulous excavation and conservation shows, once again, the catastrophic effects of heritage crime upon our cultural knowledge. Illegal excavations destroy find contexts in a grave, grave assemblages are torn apart and objects are reduced to their aesthetic skeleton. Even a regular excavation must, of course, be considered an intervention. Faced with complete destruction through building activity etc. this is, however, the only way to show the necessary respect for our cultural heritage. It then becomes even more important to invest time and money for an adequate and professional compilation of the material for the scientific community and the interested public. The present volume unlocks this world for precisely this interested public.»the Lady with the Phoenix Crown«is published in the series of popular books by the RGZM in cooperation with publishers Schnell & Steiner. It is based, to a large extent, on the comprehensive scientific publication»the Tomb of Li Chui Interdisciplinary Studies into a Tang Period Finds Assemblage«which has been published as volume 117 of the RGZM-Monograph series. Furthermore, renowned experts have teamed up for the popular book in order to acquaint us with the Tang-period world of intellectual history, alchemy, dress customs, silver alloys, lacquer ware production and wine consumption. The entire research project, continuing to this day, has been characterised by the intensity of Sino-German cooperation in which spheres of knowledge of diverse backgrounds have been joined together. Equally, a wide variety of disciplines were engaged in discussion and compiled a scientific excess value going far beyond of what would have resulted from an additive research infrastructure working alongside, but without reference to one another. In 2006, the headdress and a selection of grave goods had already been on display at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bonn, in the exhibition»xi an Imperial Power in the Afterlife«that was also funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Likewise, both the scientific monograph and the present volume owe their existence to this valuable support. More than ten years after its recovery the conservation of the assemblage has now been completed, and culture-historical analysis is already well advanced. Some aspects will still receive further in-depth consideration by editor and author Sonja Filip in her doctoral thesis supervised by Professor Dr Th. O. Höllmann at the Institute of Sinology, Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität, Munich. I would like to join the editing authors Sonja Filip and Alexandra Hilgner in their acknowledgment of all contributors and of course I have the great pleasure of expressing my sincerest gratitude to both of them who, in their position as editors, arranged the bouquet of authors and combined their own research results with those of their scientific colleagues into an equally conclusive and lively image. The volume»the Lady with the Phoenix Crown. Tang-Period Grave Goods of the Noblewoman Li Chui ( )«is based on the excavation results and the findings from conservation, antique written sources and pictorial 2 Opening Remarks

7 evidence, comparative finds and basic research in archaeology. This popular science publication illustrates how the RGZM meets its function as a transregional and interdisciplinary research institute for archaeology and how it shares this process with the interested public. Susanne Greiff Head of China Project Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum The title of the current project is:»german-chinese Co-operation in National Heritage Protection: Interdisciplinary Studies and the Development of Methods for the Protection of and Research into Archaeological Cultural Assets in Shaanxi Province.«(Project Number: 01UG1102) Opening Remarks 3

8 The project and its publication have been Copy-editing: Sonja Filip, Susanne Greiff, Alexandra Hilgner (RGZM); Jörn Schuster (ARCHÆOLOGICALsmallFINDS, Salisbury / GB) Translated from the German: Mary Wong-Sommer (International Communication); Clive Bridger (Xanten); Jörn Schuster (ARCHÆOLOGICALsmallFINDS, Salisbury / GB) Picture editing: Alexandra Hilgner, Claudia Nickel (RGZM), Franz Siegmeth Illustration Grafik-Design Malerei, Bad Vöslau / A Picture copyright research: Won Andres (RGZM) Layout / typesetting: Claudia Nickel, Marie Röder (RGZM) Cover: Alexandra Hilgner, Reinhard Köster (RGZM) The moral right of the authors has been asserted. Original edition: Sonja Filip, Alexandra Hilgner (Hrsg.), Die Dame mit der Phönixkrone. Tang-zeitliche Grabbeigaben der Adeligen Li Chui ( ) (Verlag Schnell und Steiner Regensburg und Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 2013). Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at Schnell und Steiner ISBN RGZM ISBN Verlag Schnell und Steiner Regensburg and Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz. Print: Erhardi Druck GmbH, Regensburg Printed in Germany.

9 On the Same Topic Susanne Greiff Romina Schiavone Zhang Jianlin Hou Gailing Yang Junchang (eds) The Tomb of Li Chui Interdisciplinary Studies into a Tang Period Finds Assemblage. Monographien des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 117 (Mainz 2014). 404 pages with 412 mostly coloured illustrations and 25 plates, cm, Hardcover ISBN , [D] / SFR 94,50 On May 21 st 736 the noblewoman Li Chui died at the age of 25, as related by the inscription on the epitaph found in her tomb. She was buried in an earth-chambered grave outside the Tang period capital Chang an, the present-day Xi an. Thanks to a fortunate and rare circumstance, throughout the centuries her tomb was never robbed and numerous, precious grave goods survived. In 2001 an unusually rich and filigree assemblage of jewellery was lifted together with the deceased s skeleton in two blocks by a team of Chinese archaeologists in a far-sighted way and brought to the archaeological laboratory in Xi an. There specialists of the German-Sino co-operation project of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Mainz) and the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology (Xi an) worked together on the uncovering, documentation and presentation of the finds and contexts. For the first time such a multipartite and fine jewellery assemblage could be analysed and reconstructed within its archaeological context. The result is of impressive singularity. In the publication presented here an interdisciplinary team of academics deal in many individual studies with the complex investigations into the Tang period burial of Li Chui. Apart from archaeology, art and cultural history, as well as sinology, it is not only the scientific restoration and conservation, but also various fields of the natural sciences, which worked together towards one goal: to convey a unique and realistic insight into the world of Li Chui and her times.