Death Mask
Object Number:
44-16-1A
Current Location:
China Gallery
Culture:
Chinese
Provenience:
China
Shanxi
Pingding
Period:
Liao Dynasty
Date Made:
Liao Dynasty
Early Date:
907
Late Date:
1125
Section:
Asian
Materials:
Silver
Description:
Silver death mask. Beaten from heavy sheet of silver. The delicate features of this think silver death mask were beaten into shape from a heavy sheet of metal. Masks like this were placed over the faces of men and women of the Kitan (Qidan) tribes that formed the Liao empire. The masks were attached to gold, silver, or copper wire shrouds that covered the bodies of Kitan, buried in Inner Mongolia and Liaoning Province between the mid- 10th and first quarter of the 12th century. Eyes partly closed, heavy eyebrows; long thin nose; small mouth; long ears, each with pierced hole in lobe.
Credit Line:
Purchased from Mathias Komor
Other Number:
Current & Past Exhibitions:
Magnificent Objects (06 May 2004 - Mar 2005)
Chinese Bronze and Jade (Rotunda Case Exhibit) ( Jul 2001)
Bibliography:
[Article] Steinhardt, Nancy S. 2010. "The Luohan that Came from Afar". Expedition. 52 (3): 7-8. : Page/Fig./Plate: pg. 8
[Article] Steinhardt, Nancy S. 2008. "The Chinese Rotunda". Arts of Asia. 38 (5): 83-95. : Page/Fig./Plate: Pg. 85, Fig. 15
[Book] Quick, Jennifer. 2004. Magnificent Objects from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. : Page/Fig./Plate: Cover; Pg. 75, Fig. 65
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