Façade of a Mortuary Bed

CultureChinese

Date5th century C.E.

MediumStone

DimensionsOverall: 19 5/8 × 4 × 86 inches, 456 lb. (49.85 × 10.16 × 218.44 cm, 206.84 kg)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number31-136/23

On View

Not on view

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionThe object is a lenticular-shaped gray limestone frame for a bed. The horizontal member rests on three carved legs; carvings of animals in high relief occupy the legs. There are sixteen low-relief carvings of animals and humans on the horizontal member. The top edge is bordered by a modified egg and dart motif. Traces of a red pigment on a white ground are present in isolated areas of the top border and on the high-relief carvings on the legs; no pigment is present on the lot-relief carvings. No traces of other pigments were found.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Artists Look at Art, Spencer Museum of Art, 1978; University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1978.

Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, January 20, 1981 - September 20, 1983.

Provenance

Celestin Liu;

Purchased from Celestin Liu by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.

Published References

René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé, ed., Diana Turner, ed., et. al., Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture: the Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (Tokyo; New York: Kodansha International; New York: Harper & Row, 1974) (repro.).

“Early Dynastic China Works of Art from Shang to Song,” Oriental Art (New York: J. J. Lally & Co., March 26 – April 26, 1996), no. 12 (repro.).

Gilles Beguin, “A Propos du Gang du muse Cernuschi,” Collections Parisiennes, no. 4 (October 1998), 18, fig. 2 (repro.).

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