The find belongs to archaeologists from Taiyuan, Shanxi province, in northern China. What did they unearth? A tomb decorated with murals depicting scenes of daily life during the Tang Dynasty. It ruled between 618 and 907 AD. The lavish Chinese tomb with narrative murals is a work of art in itself.
Every surface except the floor was covered with murals that have been preserved in an exceptional state to this day. All the colours used are as rich and vivid as if they had been painted yesterday.
Magnificent details
The discovery occurred in 2018 during an archaeological survey of a road construction site. The Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology excavated the site. There they discovered a single-chamber brick tomb consisting of a passage to its door, the entrance, a hallway and the main burial chamber. About this writes The History Blog.
The door of the tomb is decorated with botanical motifs in red and orange-yellow. Inside, on either side of the door, there are a pair of men dressed in yellow robes. Archaeologists believe they are guardian figures protecting the entrance to the tomb.
The conical ceiling of the chamber, above each of the four walls, is decorated with costumed animals bordered by wide red ribbons and flowers on a white background. The four walls of the burial chamber are painted with rectangular panels outlined with thick red lines.
Snapshots
Inside most of the panels on a white background are depictions of people standing under tall stylized trees. This is a popular style of the Tang period called “figure under the tree.”
The men depicted under the trees on the panels are in different postures and engaged in different activities. They all have the same appearance and clothing. Archaeologists believe that they probably represent the same individual. That is, the owner of the tomb. The lavish Chinese tomb with murals contains snapshots of his life. And echoes of his existence reach us to this day.
