Collation And Study On Pictures Of Travelling With Guards Of Honor From The Third To The Ninth Century AD Which Were Unearthed In Gansu And Qinghai Areas

There is a close relationship between the pictures of Travelling with Guards of Honor and the emergence and development of the guards of honor system,in another word,it also can be said to be the embodiment of the guards of honor system is the ruling class for grading of feudal society in iconology.The earliest traveling pictures can be traced back to the state of Chu State in the Warring States period,however,it is used to be an embodiment of the etiquette system,which appeared in the tomb murals and soon became one of the main themes of tomb decoration starting from Western Han Dynasty and became prosperous in Sui and Tang dynasties.According to archaeological data,Pictures for Guards of Honor appeared later than Pictures of Traveling,it was mainly popular in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and Sui and Tang Dynasties,but it often appeared on the two walls of the tomb paths or tomb doors in pictures of Traveling,both of them having the same iconographic significance.Pictures of Traveling in tombs in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces appeared in the mural brick tombs in Hexi Corridor and the painted wooden coffin board paintings of Tuyuhun period unearthed in Haixi,Qinghai from the 3rd to the 9th century,while Pictures for Guards of Honor mainly appeared in the tombs of the prosperous Tang Dynasty were unearthed in the two places.The reason why Pictures for Guards of Honor Traveling appeared in the tombs in Gansu and Qinghai was that they were influenced by the cultural of Han regions in the Central Plains,and once became one of the most important decorative themes in the tomb decoration in this area.Although Pictures for Guards of Honor Traveling in Gansu Qinghai areas have their local special characteristics,it does not change the historical fact that their themes were from Han region of Central Plains.Therefore,their regional characteristics in Gansu and Qinghai are significant,the iconographic meaning which they express,and the connotation and cultural factors,are the same as Pictures for Guards of Honor Traveling in the Central Plains.That is to say,they are not only concentrated embodiment of etiquette and hierarchy,but also reflected the secular life scene of tomb owners and a symbol of noble status.They also express the funeral concept of "immortality of soul and death as life" in the Central Plains from the pictures in Gansu and Qinghai areas,it can be regarded as an ideal and hopeful wishes for the death.