A Sogdian tomb bed is on display at Shaanxi History Museum. The colourful stone carvings on the twelve panel screen is one of most beautiful that has been discovered so far.
Painted Gold-leafed Stone Couch with Three-sided Screen 彩绘贴金安伽墓围屏石榻
Stone | Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581 AD) | Shaanxi History Museum, Excavated from the Northern Suburbs of Xi’an City 石 | 北周（公元557年—公元581年）| 陕西历史博物馆，西安市北郊出土
This is a typical Northern Zhou dynasty 北周（557—581 AD) burial coffin bed consisting of three parts: a screen 围屏, a couch 榻板 and a stand 榻腿. Excavated from the tomb of Anjia 安伽, a Sogdian aristocrat 粟特贵族, the screen is incised with 56 gold-leafed bas-reliefs showing the tomb owner’s lifetime scenes, such as travelling, banqueting, hunting and entertaining with Huren 胡人 friends. Anjia was an Official in-charged of the foreign trade and religious affairs of mercantile from Central Steppes in Chang’an (modern day Xi’an).
About Anjia
Anjia was born in 537 AD to a Sogdian father and probably a Chinese mother from a local Liangzhou family. His epitaph states his Sogdian ancestors migrated Bukhara in Sogdiana to Liangzhou, now known as Wuwei. Anjia served as a sabao in Tongzhou, and was eventually granted the highest rank a sabao could achieve. Anjia’s epitaph also claims his father held two government positions, which are believed to have been granted posthumously based on Anjia’s success. Anjia died at the age of sixty-two in 579
Chinese stone funerary beds of similar shape were a standard feature of the period in northern China since the 5th century CE, but were most probably an adaptation from the Western regions, as the earliest example of funerary stone beds can be found in 3rd and 4th century Kucha, and Chinese stone beds were often associated with foreign ethnicity (Xianbei, Tuyuhun…) and possibly Buddhism or Zoroastrianism.
Painted Gold-leafed Stone Tomb Door 彩绘贴金安伽墓石门
Stone | Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581 AD) | Shaanxi History Museum, Excavated from the Northern Suburbs of Xi’an City 石 | 北周（公元557年—公元581年）| 陕西历史博物馆，西安市北郊出土
Still, Sogdian tombs in China are among the most lavish of the period in this country, and are only inferior to Imperial tombs, suggesting that the Sogdian Sabao 萨保 were among the wealthiest members of the population.
The Sogdians practiced Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest of all the world’s religions. Zoroastrianism is the forerunner to many of the concepts central to the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths, such as belief in heaven and the messiah. The ancient religion was transmitted along the Silk Road by Sogdian merchants, tradesmen, and missionaries. Along with Buddhism and Hinduism, Zoroastrianism was a one of the major faiths sent along the Silk Road and into China. During this period of cultural exchange and religious transmission, the Sogdians left behind a legacy of monuments, rites, and rituals that blended indigenous Chinese beliefs and rituals with a distinctly Sogdian flavour.
The Sogdians are an Iranian people living mainly in ancient Sogdia, present-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, who also had a large diaspora living in China. Its apex was between the 5th and 9th centuries, and it consists of a rich body of pre-Muslim Central Asian visual arts.
The leading Sogdian merchants, the Sabao 萨保, were appointed community leaders. They were buried in tombs with stone beds and sarcophagi that, like Sogdian ossuaries and painting, depicted the pleasures of the material world and of the next life. Sogdian funerary furniture found in China typically features religious, Buddhist and/or Zoroastrian themes, banquet/feasting, or processions and hunting.
The panels had twelve scenes, three on each side panel and six along the back. In the centre of the back panel, Anjia is shown with a woman wearing Chinese clothes, believed to be his wife. The Sogdian swirl dance is frequently pictured on funeral beds and houses, and Anjia’s funeral bed shows the dance three times. Although there is little mercantile activity shown, Anjia is shown conversing with a Turkish leader in his tent, demonstrating his role as a sabao, or community leader. Other panels show a banquet and a hunt.
Sogdian stone funerary beds disappear during the subsequent Tang dynasty period, even though Sogdian influence was probably even more significant in China at that time, possibly due to Imperial restrictions regarding funerary practices.
Tri-Coloured Pottery Performers on Camelback 三彩载乐骆驼俑
Pottery | Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) | Shaanxi History Musuem, Excavated from the Western Suburbs of Xian City 陶瓷 | 唐（公元618年一公元907年）| 陕西历史博物馆，西安市中堡村出土
Sogdians were great dancers and musicians, and influenced greatly Tang dynasty (and subsequent Chinese) culture. Although the original Sogdian melodies are now lost, there are a number of elements that can help to achieve a good understanding of the music they produced. The Sogdian merchants traveled across Asia during at least most of the first millennium AD, bringing with them their instruments and musical style. They traveled to China, introducing new styles therein. Sogdian music flourished both in China and in the Chinese court.
About Chinese National Treasure Series
中華國寶系列 Chinese National Treasure series feature specific artefacts and relics from museums all around the world that are historically significant to be considered a National Treasure. The series covers the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation from Neolithic periods before the Xia dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BC) to modern day.
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