Chinese Funerary Art

From an incised Tang dynasty stone sarcophagus (700–750 CE) to a silver Liao funerary mask (c. 1000 CE), the museum’s collection of Chinese funerary art—art created to be buried with the deceased in their tomb—is one of its most exciting. This is not only because of the collection’s rich cultural and material diversity, but also because new archaeological excavations in China are constantly reshaping our understanding of these artistic practices.