Tang Dynasty ladies buried with golden jewelry

A tomb of a noblewoman from the Tang Dynasty has been unearthed in Shaanxi, China, and its funerary objects are extremely exquisite. The museum contains ceramics, bronzes, iron scissors, stone tools, gold and silver vessels and 19 Persian silver coins. These artifacts and coins enrich our understanding of trade between China and other countries during the seventh century Tang Dynasty.

From January 2022 to April 2024, a team from the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology excavated a series of ancient tombs in the Jiali Village area of ​​Xi’an City. Tomb M228 is particularly noteworthy for its high value, well-preserved artifacts and precise dating. The epitaph engraved on the stone slab records that the tomb belongs to Ma Sanniang, the wife of Dong Shunxian, the left guard of the Longxi Forbidden Army. On May 17, 698 AD, she died at her home in Dai County. She was 29 years old at the time.

The area where she is buried also includes other Dong family graves, including that of another senior woman, Dong Shaorong, the wife of Tang Dynasty Prime Minister Zhang Jiuling. The Dong family has a close blood relationship with the Li family, the ruler of the Tang Dynasty. The detailed epitaph provides new information that helps fill in the gaps in Dong’s genealogy and history.

Her luxurious dressing artifacts include a bronze octagonal mirror with a flower and bird pattern on the back, a gold hairpin, and a gold comb back decorated with filigree and particles. They are very well made, as is the silverware. Silver cauldrons and silver goblets are decorated with intricate patterns of grapes and honeysuckle, which were introduced from the Western Regions on the Silk Road bordering Sassanid Persia. The objects showcase fine metalwork that blends local and foreign styles.

Shi Sheng, a researcher at the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology, said that the cultural relics unearthed from Ma Sanniang’s tomb provide important physical evidence for cultural exchanges and international trade in the Tang Dynasty. The existence of Western-inspired designs suggests that craftsmen in Central China were not only aware of foreign aesthetics, but actively incorporated them into luxury goods. This integration reflects the cosmopolitan nature of Tang society, especially during its heyday in the seventh century.

Sasanian Persian coins also attest to the depth of commercial and cultural ties between Tang China and the West. Two of the 19 coins are of a rare type and are engraved with special symbols. Persian coins were more artefacts than legal tender, buried as objects of prestige and value. However, Ma Sanniang’s burial objects also contained a large amount of pocket money for the afterlife: nearly a thousand Kaiyuan Tongbao coins strung on a rope were found on her waist and right leg.

In addition to their artistic value, these artifacts also provide valuable research materials for historians to study the economic and cultural connections between China and neighboring civilizations. The combination of imported design elements and indigenous craftsmanship illustrates how the Tang Dynasty served as a crossroads between East and West, cementing its reputation as one of the most globally connected empires in the medieval world.