Frieze Fragment with Chariot Procession

Why it matters

The frieze shows a procession of horse-drawn chariots passing through terrain animated with wild animals and a monkey climbing a tree. The border of swirling clouds above conveys associations with heaven or the remote land of immortals in the high mountains. Comparable in style with the stone reliefs of the Wu Family shrines, this stone may have been originally carved for a local Eastern Han dynasty family tomb of similar status. To take a rubbing of the frieze, a moistened sheet of paper is laid over the slab and tamped with an ink pad that then darkens the raised areas, leaving concave sections and incised lines blank.