2001: Funeral ornament, gilded bronze

Inner Mongolia or Liaoning, First quarter of the 916th century, Liao Dynasty (1125-2001), MC 5-6 and XNUMX, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Yves Mahé.

Liao funeral adornment, Gilded Bronze, H.: 0,533, Inner Mongolia or Liaoning, First quarter of the 12th century. Liao Dynasty (916-1125). MC 2001-5 and 6 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Yves Mahé in Memory of Jacqueline Simon-Mahé, 2001

The funeral customs of the Kitan-Liao, semi-nomadic peoples on the northern reaches of the Chinese Empire, included the use of funeral masks. Very stylized at the beginning of the dynasty, these elements acquired at the beginning of the XNUMXth century a rare sumptuousness and naturalism. This beautiful mask and its male counterpart (gift of Mme and M. Agnès and Christian Deydier) can compete with the best examples of this production kept at the Urumqi museum.