Chinese Mausoleum on a Hillside

Title: Chinese Mausoleum on a Hillside
Caption: Unidentified Chinese Tomb
Identifier: SEFA_048
Alternative Identifier: Simpson Album p41
Description: The gravesite of a wealthy Chinese family is a stone semi-circle with two pillars topped by a pair of lions in the center. These pillars, representing Heaven's Gate, flank an engraved stone plaque. A trough around the outer rim appears to protect the grave from water damage. In the background are Western-style gravestones on a grassy hillside.
Commentary: The lions atop the Heaven's Gate suggest the family practiced Buddhism, this form of mortuary art being introduced to China with Buddhism c.200 CE. The earliest known stone lions associated with the Heaven Gate are at the Wu Family cemetery in Jiaxiang 嘉祥 of ShandongProvince.
Date Created: 1910-1913
Original Format: Photographic print
Is Part Of: Simpson-Estabrook Photo Album
Source: Courtesy of Kyle Jolliffe
Provenance: Curated by Alice Estabrook Simpson - captions written by her. In the care of Kyle Jolliffe.
Access Rights: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher: SIUE
Record Date: 2026-09-28
Contributor: Cory Willmott; Kyle Jolliffe
Type: Still Image
References: Chen Li. 2017. "Rethinking the Origins of Han Dynasty Stone-carved Tombs." World Archaeology 49(5): 700-717.

Media: SEFA_048_Simpson Album p9 Unidentified Chinese Tomb.jpg; SEFA_048_Simpson Album p9 Unidentified Chinese Tomb Adjusted.jpg