Xuzhou's Han reliefs: the living world inside the tomb
Read weaving, feasting and supernatural imagery as carefully constructed scenes, rather than photographs of everyday Han life.
Xuzhou Han Stone Relief Art Museum
A museum for reading ancient pictures: banquets, weaving, processions and supernatural worlds carved into architectural stone.
These reliefs belonged to funerary and commemorative structures, so their images need to be read in relation to death, ancestry and status. Their subject matter nevertheless preserves remarkably concrete gestures of living people. The specialised museum near Yunlong Lake is distinct from the Han-themed displays within the Shizishan scenic complex.
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Photo credits and rights
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A Han stone relief depicting a drum-dance scene in the Xuzhou Han Dynasty Stone Relief Art Museum.Augustohai · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized and converted to WebP.