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An inscription on a tile of the sculpted gabled roof of the sarcophagus reads: "Open this sarcophagus, and you will die immediately" ([[Chinese language|Chinese]]: 开棺即死).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Jonathan |title=The Silk Road - China and the Karakorum Highway: A Travel Companion |date=12 March 2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85773-933-9 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaWmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT48 |language=en}}</ref>
An inscription on a tile of the sculpted gabled roof of the sarcophagus reads: "Open this sarcophagus, and you will die immediately" ([[Chinese language|Chinese]]: 开棺即死).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Jonathan |title=The Silk Road - China and the Karakorum Highway: A Travel Companion |date=12 March 2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85773-933-9 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaWmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT48 |language=en}}</ref>

Li Jinxun belonged to the [[House of Li]], which would later form the imperial house of the [[Tang dynasty]] (618-907 CE). The Tuoba-Xianbei identity of her ancestor [[Li Xian (Northern Zhou general)|Li Xian]] as revealed by his epitaph suggests that the rulers of the Tang dynasty had "barbarian" background, rather than being purely Han as suggested by some records.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chen |first1=Sanping |title=Succession Struggle and the Ethnic Identity of the Tang Imperial House |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=1996 |volume=6 |issue=3 |page=381 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25183243 |issn=1356-1863|quote="The official histories compiled during the Tang had been subjected to much political doctoring in order to mask and conceal the imperial house's "barbarian" background. The newest proof is the recent archaeological discovery showing that another contemporary prominent Li clan, namely that of Li Xian, the Northern Zhou Grand General with the same Longxi ancestry claim, was in fact of unmistakable Tuoba Xianbei descent."}}</ref> Some historians have therefore suggested that the Tang imperial family might have modified its genealogy to conceal Xianbei heritage, and that they had preserved various Xianbei customs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sanping |first1=Chen |title=Succession Struggle and the Ethnic Identity of the Tang Imperial House |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |series=Third Series |date=Nov 1996 |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=379–405|doi=10.1017/S1356186300007793 }}</ref>


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Revision as of 05:36, 4 June 2022

Li Jingxun
Stone sarcophagus of Li Jingxun, 608 CE. Beilin Museum, Xi'an
Created608 CE
DiscoveredNorthern China
Present locationBeilin Museum, Xi'an
Xi'an is located in China
Xi'an
Xi'an

Li Jingxun (Chinese: 李静训, Lĭ Jìngxùn, 600-608 CE) was a 9-year-old princess of the Sui dynasty when she died in 608 CE. Her stone sarcophagus was found undisturbed near Liangjiazhuang in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China.[1] Her tomb was excavated intact in 1957 in Daxing, capital of the Sui dynasty.[1]

Li Jingxun was a granddaughter of Emperor Xuan of the Northern Zhou on her maternal side, and was raised by her maternal grandmother, Empress Xuan, herself daughter of Yang Jian who later usurped the Northern Zhou throne to become the Emperor Wen of Sui.[1] On her paternal side, she descended from a line of Northern Zhou generals.[1] The tomb of her paternal great-grandfather, the Northern Zhou general Li Xian (北周李贤墓), has also been discovered, and the epitaph suggest that he was a Tuoba-Xianbei.[1] His tomb contained many Central Asian objects too, such as a ewer with Greco-Roman scenes.[1] Li Jingxun was therefore of fairly mixed ethnic lineage, since the Northern Zhou were of Xianbei origin, as was her grandmother on her maternal side, and she can be considered as an "outsider princess" in the context of the Sui dynasty.[1]

Tomb

The stone sarcophagus is in the shape of a Sui dynasty house. It is rare design, but a carved stone coffin is also known from the tomb of another princess, Princess Yongtai (684-701).[1] Stone outer coffin were also known among non-dynastic people, such as the Sogdian officials An Jia and Yu Hong.[1] The sarcophagus of Li Jingxun was decorated with two engraved male and female attendants, and with painting on the inside walls of the sarcophagus, which have disappeared due to moisture.[1]

Her lavish tomb contained many artifacts from the Silk Road, and foreign-style objects.[1][2] The tomb included gold cups, jades, porcelains and toys, as well as a coin of the Sasanian Emperor Peroz I (459-483 CE).[2] Still, the tomb is considered as relatively modest by imperial standards.[3]

It is thought that the tomb artifacts reflect her northern ethnic background.[1] Such stone sarcophagy are related to the tradition of Sogdian tombs in China, such as the tomb of Shi Jun.[1][4] In comparison, other known Sui dynasty tombs have relatively few exotic items in them.[1]

An inscription on a tile of the sculpted gabled roof of the sarcophagus reads: "Open this sarcophagus, and you will die immediately" (Chinese: 开棺即死).[5]

  • Li Jinxun tomb: female attendants left and right of the entrance
    Li Jinxun tomb: female attendants left and right of the entrance
  • Epitaph of Li Jingxun (608 CE)
    Epitaph of Li Jingxun (608 CE)
  • Object from the tomb of Li Jingxun, Tianjin Museum.[6]
    Object from the tomb of Li Jingxun, Tianjin Museum.[6]
  • Gold bracelet from the tomb, probably imported from India.[7] National Museum of China
    Gold bracelet from the tomb, probably imported from India.[7] National Museum of China
  • Gold stemmed cup from the tomb, National Museum of China.[8]
    Gold stemmed cup from the tomb, National Museum of China.[8]
  • Necklace from the tomb, imported from South Asia.[9] National Museum of China.[10][11]
    Necklace from the tomb, imported from South Asia.[9] National Museum of China.[10][11]
  • White glaze porcelain ewer from the tomb, National Museum of China
    White glaze porcelain ewer from the tomb, National Museum of China
  • Cup with gold rim, from the tomb, National Museum of China
    Cup with gold rim, from the tomb, National Museum of China

Ancestry

Li Jingxun had an illustrious imperial and military lineage:[1]

Yuwen Tai (Xianbei General, 505–556)
Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou (543–578)
Chinu (Xianbei Princess)
Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou (559-580)
Li Ezi (Empress Dowager Li, 535–588)
Yuwen Eying (宇文娥英, mother, 578-615)
Yang Zhong
Yang Jian (Emperor Wen of Sui, 541–604)
Lü Kutao
Yang Lihua (Empress Xuan of Northern Zhou, 561–609)
Lady Cui (崔氏, Han Chinese)
Dugu Qieluo (Empress Wen of Sui, 544-602)
Dugu Xin (Xianbei General, 503-557)
Li Jingxun (李静训, 600-608)
Li Min (李敏, father, Sui Minister, 576-614)
Li Chen (李隆, Northern Zhou general, 536-583)
Li Xian (李贤, Northern Zhou general, 502-569)
  • Excavated objects from the tomb of Li Jingxun
  • Wu, Hung. "A Case of Cultural Interaction: House-shaped Sarcophagi of the Northern Dynasties" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wu, Mandy Jui-man (2004). "Exotic Goods as Mortuary Display in Sui Dynasty Tombs--A Case Study of Li Jingxun's Tomb". Sino-Platonic Papers. 142.
  2. ^ a b XIONG, VICTOR CUNRUI; LAING, ELLEN JOHNSTON (1991). "Foreign Jewelry in Ancient China". Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 5: 163–173. ISSN 0890-4464. JSTOR 24048294.
  3. ^ Cheng, Bonnie (2007). "Fashioning a Political Body: The Tomb of a Rouran Princess". Archives of Asian Art. 57: 41. doi:10.1484/aaa.2007.0001. ISSN 0066-6637. JSTOR 20111346.
  4. ^ Steinhardt, Nancy Shatzman (14 May 2019). Chinese Architecture: A History. Princeton University Press. p. 282. ISBN 978-0-691-19197-3.
  5. ^ Tucker, Jonathan (12 March 2015). The Silk Road - China and the Karakorum Highway: A Travel Companion. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-85773-933-9.
  6. ^ "中国收藏网---新闻中心--隋代陶瓷工艺的特色（上）". news.socang.com.
  7. ^ XIONG, VICTOR CUNRUI; LAING, ELLEN JOHNSTON (1991). "Foreign Jewelry in Ancient China". Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 5: 164. ISSN 0890-4464. JSTOR 24048294.
  8. ^ Watt, James C. Y. (2004). China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-58839-126-1.
  9. ^ XIONG, VICTOR CUNRUI; LAING, ELLEN JOHNSTON (1991). "Foreign Jewelry in Ancient China". Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 5: 171. ISSN 0890-4464. JSTOR 24048294.
  10. ^ Tucker, Jonathan (12 March 2015). The Silk Road - China and the Karakorum Highway: A Travel Companion. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-85773-933-9.
  11. ^ Watt, James C. Y. (2004). China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-58839-126-1.
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