Kooros couch

Kooros couch
The Kooros couch, Vahid Kooros Collection.[1]
Created557-618 CE
DiscoveredTianshui, Northern China
Present locationGansu Provincial Museum
Tianshui is located in Continental Asia
Tianshui
Tianshui
Tianshui is located in China
Tianshui
Tianshui
Sogdian tombs in China
Anyang funerary bed550–577 CE
Tomb of Kang Ye571 CE
Miho funerary couchc. 570 CE
Tomb of An Jia579 CE
Tomb of Wirkak580 CE
Tomb of An Bei589 CE
Tomb of Yu Hong592 CE
Kooros couch557–618 CE
Tianshui tomb581–624 CE

The Kooros couch is a 6-7th century (Northern Zhou/Sui dynasty) funeral monument to an anonymous Sogdian nobleman and official in northern China (the epitaph has been lost).[1] The tomb was probably discovered in the northern city of Tianshui in a clandestine excavation. It belonged to the "Vahid Kooros collection" after which it was named, and was briefly presented in the Musée Guimet in 2004, but has since disappeared.[2] It is one of the major known examples of Sogdian tombs in China.[3]

The stone couch, similar to other Sogdian tombs in China and contemporary Chinese tombs, is composed of a pedestal with stone slabs around the couch, decorated with reliefs showing the life of the deceased and scene of the afterlife, particularly hunting, drinking and feasting.[4][5][2] The iconography of the panels is rather excentric, or "Bacchic".[2][6]

Given the iconographical content of the tomb, the owner may not have been Sogdian, but rather may have originated from northern India or Tokharistan (Bactria).[7]

  1. ^ a b Hongnam, Kim (2020). "A Study of Stone-joint Metal Clamps in China and Korea during the 6th-8th Centuries" (PDF). The Silk Road. 18: 88.
  2. ^ a b c GRENET, Frantz (2020). Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique. Paris, France: Collège de France. p. 328-329. ISBN 978-2-7226-0516-9.
  3. ^ Lerner, Judith A. (2005). "ASPECTS OF ASSIMILATION: THE FUNERARY PRACTICES AND FURNISIDNGS OF CENTRAL ASIANS IN CHINA" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers. 168.
  4. ^ CHENG, BONNIE (2010). "THE SPACE BETWEEN: Locating "Culture" in Artistic Exchange". Ars Orientalis. 38: 90. ISSN 0571-1371. JSTOR 29550021.
  5. ^ Bing, Huang (2021). "Deciphering the Shi Jun Sarcophagus Using Sogdian Religious Beliefs, Tales, and Hymns". Religions: 14.
  6. ^ Compareti, Matteo (2016). "Flying over Boundaries Auspicious Birds in Sino-Sogdian Funerary Art" (PDF). Eurasiatica 5: 136.
  7. ^ Lerner, Judith A. (2005). "ASPECTS OF ASSIMILATION: THE FUNERARY PRACTICES AND FURNISIDNGS OF CENTRAL ASIANS IN CHINA" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers. 168: 4.