Li Qingquan
Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
Visiting scholar, Harvard University
Friday, April 8, 4- 6 pm
CWAC 156
The Image of Tomb Masters and the Transformation of Funerary Culture from Tang to Song dynaties
Abstract:
Until the Tang dynasty, tomb masters were a popular image in tomb mural paintings. During the Tang, it nearly disappeared as an image, but it reappeared in the Five Dynasties in the form of sculpture, instead of mural painting. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, this subject underwent another transformation. The image of tomb masters became a couple, drinking and sitting face to face, and this motif became the most fundamental and central subject in tombs. Furthermore, the couple’s image took the form of bas relief, being colored and integrated into the entire tomb architecture as a unity. This talk takes an art historical approach to explore the transformation of tomb masters’ imagery in relationship to the funerary culture from the Five dynasties to the Song dynasty.
* This talk will be given in Chinese.
