Limestone reliquary casket
China, Tang dynasty, 618 - 906

A limestone reliquary in the shape of a coffin. The bottom section is hollowed out of a solid slab of stone. Its straight sides taper down from the front panel and are supported on a tiered platform, the lower register of which is carved with 12 recessed cartouches, each engraved with two cloud scrolls. The sloping arch-shaped lid is carved in low relief with a repeating pattern of stylized floral roundels. The reliquary is engraved with a representation of the ‘four animals of the cardinal directions’. On the two long sides are a tiger and a dragon respectively, both running among cloud scrolls. On the recessed front panel a phoenix stands, wings outstretched, on a large lotus flower; the decoration extends from the bottom section to the lid. On the back panel, which is also recessed, a snake wraps itself around a turtle. The stone is of dark grey colour with cream-coloured veins.

• Coffin shaped reliquaries were made to store the sarira, the corporeal relics of the Buddha, or objects used by enlightened persons such as revered monks. The earliest reliquary holders have been found in India, where they were usually placed inside a stupa.2 The cult of relics represents an important tradition in Buddhism, and with the spread of the religion into China, the shape of the containers gradually changed. The coffin-shape became popular during the Tang dynasty. Occasionally such reliquaries were made in sets of graduating size, with the outer casket usually made of stone and containing a number of smaller metal or hardstone inner boxes, the smallest of which actually held the relics. Michaelson observes that “In ancient China it was customary to bury corpses in double coffins and it is possible that the idea in medieval China of using several reliquary holders, nested one inside the other in the shape of a coffin, is related to this practice.” 2 Two gem-encrusted silver and gold examples from the Qingshan temple site in Xinfeng are in the Shaanxi Lintong Museum.3 An inscribed stone chest of square shape containing a number of coffin-shaped boxes in precious metals is in the Gansu Provincial Museum.4 The beautifully engraved decoration on the sides of the present reliquary includes the animal symbols of the four cardinal directions: the green dragon of the east, the red bird of the south, the white tiger of the west, and the "dark warrior" of the north, an entwined tortoise and snake. These animals represent the division of space into four directions and the division of time into four seasons. This decorative device was in existence at least as early as the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), when it can be seen on bronze mirrors. (see page 16). The closest comparison to the present casket is provided by a similar example from the von der Heydt collection, now at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, illustrated by Sirén.8 A slightly larger example, the sides carved with figures in relief, is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.6 A gilt-silver reliquary engraved with phoenixes was found in the Famen pagoda in 1981.7 The lowrelief flower roundels on the lid represent a decorative scheme that is often seen on Tang dynasty metalwork, such as a pair of silver scissors in the collection of the Art institute of Chicago.8

1 Michaelson, C.: Gilded Dragons, Buried Treasures from China’s Golden Ages, British Museum Press, London, 1999, p. 145
2 Michaelson, C, op. cit., p. 145
3 Michaelson, C, op. cit., nos. 100-1, p. 144-5
4 Watt, J.C.Y. China, Dawn of a Golden Age, 200 – 750 AD, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2004, no. 191, p. 298-9
5 Sirén, O. Chinese Sculptures in the von der Heydt Collection, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, 1959, no. 8, pp. 32-3
6 Watt, J.C.Y. et al Asiatic Art in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1982, no.89, p. 102
7 Wei, H. and Deydier, C. Ancient Chinese Gold, Editions Arhis, Paris 2001, no. 586, page 256
8 Kelley, C.W. Chinese Gold and Silver in American Collections, Tang dynasty, 618 – 907 AD, Dayton, Ohio 1984, no. 45, page 78