Dingjiazha Tomb No. 5 | |
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Native name 丁家闸五号壁画墓 (Chinese) | |
Type | Underground tomb |
Location | Jiuquan, Gansu, China |
Coordinates | 39°51′16.8″N 98°26′6.6″E / 39.854667°N 98.435167°E |
Built | late 4th-mid 5th century A.D. |
The Dingjiazha Tomb No. 5 (Chinese: 丁家闸五号墓) is a mural tomb of the Northern Liang kingdom built when the Sixteen Kingdoms came to an end and the Northern Wei Dynasty was beginning, c. 384–441.[1] The tomb was excavated in 1977 and has elements of art found in works from Eastern Han dynasty, Northern Wei dynasty, Jin dynasty, as well as the Mogao Caves.[1] It is located in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, China.[2][3]
The tomb is divided into two rooms, with murals covering the walls and ceilings of the entry room, creating a multi-level display of the lord's place in the world, between sky above and his workers below.[2] The paintings are done in a mythic style; painted into the peak of the ceiling, overlooking everything (with the whole world and celestial realm beneath it) is a lotus. It is above celestial images of the heavens on the ceiling (nine-tail fox, flying horse, flying human or apsara), which are above the lord and his household in the center (the lord sitting with his servants on one side, those serving him behind him, performers dancing and playing instruments before him), who are above those who work and till the land below.[2]
The image of the musicians and dancers is known as the Music and Bai Opera (乐伎和百戏图 Lè jì hé bǎi xì tú), part of the overall picture of the lord and his domain, known as Leisurely life, travel, and music (燕居行乐图).[2][4] It features musicians playing waist drum (细腰鼓), flute (长笛), lute (阮咸琵琶), and guqin (古琴). The lute shown here was relatively new to China, or in the process of entering China, and is one of the earliest lute images in China.
[Information about the magazine article this ran in is at www.xueshu.com/hl/201410/3683520.html] 绘有此壁画的墓于1977年发现,根据墓室形制、随葬品及壁画上的乐器腰鼓,可考订其时在十六国时期的后凉至北凉之间。腰鼓是西域乐器,据《册府元龟》载,乃吕光灭龟兹〈公元384年〉时传人,则此墓的上限当在公元四世纪末,下限止于北魏破酒泉那一年〈公元441年〉 [translation: The tomb with this mural was discovered in 1977. According to the shape of the tomb, the funerary objects and the drums of the instruments on the murals, it can be dated between the post-six period and the north cool period. The waist drum is a Western musical instrument. According to the "Yuanfu Yuangui", it was the Lu Guangguang who vanquished Kucha (AD 384). The upper limit of this tomb was at the end of the fourth century AD, and the lower limit ended in the year of the Northern Wei Dynasty. 441 years]
The top of the top [peak of the pyramidal ceiling] is painted in the middle with a lotus [overlooking everything below]. The following [everything below the lotus] is divided into five layers by ribbon. [Illustrated in] Painting, the content includes the three levels of heaven (two layers), human world (two layers), underground (one layer).