The Ascension to the Kingdom of Heaven

The Sixteen Kingdoms Period  (304-439). 145cm*270cm. Mural painting in DIngjiazha tomb No.5, Jiuquan, Gansu Province.

Apart from depicting the identity and activities of the tomb owner in life, what else would be painted in the murals in the tomb? Of course, it is the world after death that people imagine - the kingdom of heaven, or the immortals in the sky.

This is a large tomb dating back to the 4th century, with two burial chambers covered in continuous large-scale murals. The murals in the rear chamber depict various arrangements within the tomb, while the murals in the front chamber differ in content due to the depicted areas. On the sloping walls of the tomb top, there are depictions of the Queen Mother of the West, the King of the East, celestial horses and feathered people, representing the celestial world. The murals on the walls depict scenes from the tomb owner's life and Kabuki performances.

This piece is compiled from the Chinese edition of Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting by Foreign Languages Press and Yale University Press, translated by Chen Ying.