Items such as a silver spittoon with intricate designs of beaten gold, along with frescoes showing a servant holding this vessel within easy spitting distance of his master, indicate that a habit that the current Chinese authorities are trying to stamp out was practiced by Khitan nobles as a matter of pride. Others, such as a silver box with lions (an animal not found in northern China), or drinking vessels of distinctly Middle Eastern design, show the range of the Khitans’ reach. There are many fascinating hybrid objects, such as a gold vase with pictures of famous stories of filial piety etched on its surface or the Capricorn-shaped vessel (with the head of a dragon rather than a ram) made from Tang-style three-color glaze. The Khitans were clearly very much at home with making use of whatever took their fancy. Not all the items would have been made by the Khitans themselves, with some obtained through trade or made by craftsman taken captive during the Khitans’ many military excursions.
A particular feature of Gold and Glory is the relatively small
number of texts on show. For the
non-specialist, this is something of a boon, as the majority of items on display are attractive to look at, and can be enjoyed without having to read the fine print. The reason for this is that very little textual material from the Khitans has survived. Chou said that all materials in the Khitan language had been compiled into not more than a couple of volumes. This is very much a culture reflected through its material goods, and something of the delight that these people must have taken in acquisition comes through in the show.
The exhibition is divided by theme, with one section dealing with daily life on the steppe, another on burial customs, a third religious practices (largely Buddhist, but with a strong injection of animist and shamanistic practices). A further three sections deal specifically with finds from three royal tombs: the tomb of the Liao Princess of Chen (1001 to 1018); the tomb of Yelu Yuzhi (890 to 941), the cousin to the Liao Dynasty’s founder, and another tomb tentatively ascribed to Princess Yuludugu (? to 914), the founder’s sister.
Objects such as the death mask and crown of the Princess of Chen are remarkable, part of a panoply of gold and silver that covered the body from head to toe. Photos show the body as it was found in the tomb, with all its precious items, many of them on display in the exhibition, worn as they might have been in life. This tomb, first excavated in 1985, had escaped the attention of grave robbers and presents a remarkably full picture of the princess and all her finery.
The story of the Liao Dynasty and the Khitan people might be a relatively obscure chapter in history, especially given their subsequent disappearance from the world stage, but the tale told by Gold and Glory of a people who lived on a periphery of great civilizations, embodies the ebb and flow of ideas that helped shape the world we know.
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