Underground Music: The Purpose and Meaning of Musical Images in Tombs from the Period of Division in China (220-589 CE)

Basic data for this project

Description

This interdisciplinary project seeks to decipher the purpose and meaning of musical images in tombs during China’s Period of Division (AD 220-589). By joining the fields of art history and archaeology with musicology, the project explores the content and spatial distribution of various scenes that depict or include musical performances under the changing mortuary practices of the time. This unique vantage point provides a window into the choices made by members of the elite regarding the function of music in a tomb, bringing sound into a soundless space. After the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 CE, China entered an era of turmoil and instability, characterized by non-Han invasion, mass migration, and a rapid rise and fall of states. Vast demographic and political changes brought about new epistemes, canons of thought, cultural ideas and practices, as well as the transformation and adaption of existing norms. One of the most important cultural pillars impacted by these changes was that of music. Musical culture with its instruments, performances, values, and aesthetics touched upon every aspect of the social and political realms. Some of its most vivid depictions of musical performance are found in the archaeological record of the time. The basis for this project includes a group of one hundred tombs spanning three hundred and fifty years across various regions of what is now China, published in excavation reports. Musical scenes and their elements appear on murals, coffins, as figurine ensembles, and on grave goods, among others. These will be categorized in a multi-layered database. Methodologically, the project includes an analysis, assessment, and contextualization of musical scenes and their elements according to four categories: "Typology and Timbre", which addresses the intended musical atmosphere of ensembles, as well as changing musical instruments. "Style and Actors", which analyzes the attire, gender, status, and cultural identity of scene participants. "Setting", which situates the musical scene and identifies the significance of that location choice, whether outdoors, indoors, in a celestial realm etc. Finally, "Spatial Distribution" recontextualizes the scenes within the tomb as a whole, to understand the possible purposes given to their positioning. Conclusions will then be compared with specific descriptions in textual sources to examine whether they complement or contradict each other. Results will be published in a co-authored monograph including an introduction on the advantages of this interdisciplinary methodology.