Cleveland Museum of Art

Rubbing of a Stone from the Tang-Fang Collection

Date

1900–1916

Medium

Rubbing, ink on paper

Culture

China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911) or Republican period (1912-49)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Figures, birds, and a chariot depicted in three registers correspond to a stone relief from the east wall of the front stone chamber in the Wu Liang shrine: the top register shows a procession with a horse carriage; the second has scenes of filial piety; the third presents a banquet scene. However, missing inscribed labels to identify the scenes and a carriage replaced by two figures in the lower left corner reveal that this rubbing differs from the Wu Liang shrine version. The museum’s rubbing was either altered, taken from a different local Han dynasty shrine, or from a later stone slab that was recarved to produce rubbings for the market. The process of making rubbings has been done in China since at least the 6th century.

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