This is the earliest han portrait stone found in northern Shaanxi

Since the report of the excavation of Han portrait stones in the Yulin area of northern Shaanxi in the 1920s, nearly a thousand Han portrait stones have been excavated, which are collected in various cultural and museum units in Yulin area.

And the earliest discovery of the Northern Shaanxi Han portrait stone is this piece --

▌ "Guo Zhongli no 椁" horizontal frieze portrait stone

Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing

▌ "Ancient Yanmen Yinguan Chengxi River Circle Yang Guo Zhongli Zhi Zhi" list title

In 1924, the Beijing Zunguzhai antique dealer thought it profitable to sell portrait stones, and collected and smuggled several portrait stones from the Suide area and was detained when they were sold to foreign merchants.

One of the frieze stones was excavated from Suide Forty Shop, 160 cm in width and 34 cm in length, the upper column is a deformed cloud dragon pattern, and the lower column is inscribed with 15 characters of Han Li "Gu Yanmen Yin Pavilion Yu Xi He Circle Yang Guo Zhongli Zhi".

"Yanmen" is Yanmen County, during the Warring States period Zhao Wuling Wang, Qin and Han Shizhi office was located in Shanwu County, the original site is in the southeast of present-day Youyu County, Shanxi Province, and the Eastern Han Dynasty moved to Yinguan County. Yinguan County, set up in the third year of the reign of Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty (141 BC), belonged to Yanmen Commandery (雁門郡), which was ruled by Yanmen Commandery during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and was located in the southeast of present-day Pingshuo City, Shanxi Province. "Yanmen Yinguan Cheng" is Guo Zhongli's tenure as a county clerk in Yinguan County, Yanmen County. "Xihe Yuanyang" is a native of Xihe County, Xihe County. The "rafter" is a combination of portrait stones embedded in the burial chamber as a coffin outside the coffin.

This article is selected from the 2019 5th issue of the "Collection" magazine "Re-reading the Portrait Stone of northern Shaanxi Han", for more content, please pay attention to the current issue of the magazine.