A study of Iranian Hunting Scenes and Motifs on the Ancient Chinese and Sogdian Tombs and its Relationship with the Concept of “Paradise of Xiwangmu”

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of History and Iranian Studies, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

Abstract

 Among the most widely used themes of Persian art in
ancient China are hunting motifs on the walls or vessels
of Chinese and Sogdian royal tombs. In Chinese tombs,
there are also murals containing the symbols of the goddess
Xiwangmu (西 王母) or eternal paradise, which are directly
related to the hunting motifs on the walls in the same tombs.
Although ancient Iranian cultural objects and elements in
China have been studied, the reasons for use of hunting
themes in Parthian or Sasanid fashions and reliefs of the
goddess Shivangmo in Chinese tombs have not been
studied. Therefore, the present article intends to use a
descriptive-analytical method to first explain the presence
of Iranian hunting concepts in Chinese tombs and then to
discuss the use of the same themes in Sogdian tombs in
China. According to “hunting magic”, the use of hunting in
tombs seems to have been a magical way for the deceased
to reach paradise. This tradition was first seen in Chinese
tombs, and then gradually, Sogdians followed them and
mixed hunting motifs with Persian cultural elements to
depict the afterlife. Considering the variety of hunting
images on Sassanid vessels and also the use of these motifs
on Chinese and Sogdian tombs in China, which are mostly
found near the city of Chang’an or Xi’an, the present article
intends to examine these works in China and to consider
whether the widespread use of hunting images and the use
of Parthian and Sasanid style of hunting motifs in Chinese
tombs is related to burial rites. In other words, was it the
intention of the Chinese to use these unique motifs to
depict the afterlife of their dead? The researcher claims
that the Chinese people from the Parthian period were very
interested in using the unique works of Iranians and it was
new and attractive to them. This is especially evident in the
ritual use of Iranian hunting motifs on the Chinese vessels
and tombs. hunting imagery in these tombs depicted the
route through the desolate spaces that were believed to exist
between this world and the next. In addition to the Chinese
Tombs, hunting scenes with Sassanid and Parthian fashions
are also engraved on Sogdian tombs in late Sassanid
period. As discussed, the inscriptions, historical and literary
narratives, and images on tombs and vessels discovered in
China suggest that the deceased tried to walk the difficult
path between this world and the next, in order to reach the
paradise of the goddess Xiwangmu. The connection of
this goddess with hunting has caused her to be depicted
in the tombs of the ancient Chinese from the beginning
of the Han period. Parthian and Sassanid-style hunting
symbols in Sogdian tombs also were ways of helping for
the deceased to make his way to paradise. In other words,
the ancient Sogdians learned from the Chinese and used
hunting symbols on utensils or tombstones in order to help
the deceased to walk the path to paradise by killing wild
animals. 

Keywords

References

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Journal of Fine Arts: Visual Arts
Volume 27, Issue 2
August 2022
Pages 49-57

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