Epitaph tablet of Prince Yuan Mi, 524, Northern Wei dynasty. Black limestone, 99.06 x 101.6 x 23.5 cm. The William Hood Dunwoody Fund, 46.23.2a © Minneapolis Institute of Art 

This epitaph tablet, a testament to the art of Chinese calligraphy, consists of three basic parts: (1) the official title of Prince Zheng Qing, who was uncle to the ninth ruler of Wei, Emperor Zheng Guang (520-524); (2) the Imperial eulogy and memorial decree, composed by his nephew the Emperor; (3) the date of the burial, the third day of the second month in the fifth year of Zheng Guang (524). As the memorial relates, the prince was the grandson of the the sixth emperor of northern Wei. He served as a prince for the state of Zhao and was Commanding General of the successful Southern Expedition. He died in his prime and was buried in the Pei-mon Mountains north of the capital of Luoyang.

Epitaph cover of Prince Yuan Mi, 524, Northern Wei dynasty. Black limestone, 99.06 x 101.6 x 17.15 cm. The William Hood Dunwoody Fund, 46.23.2b © Minneapolis Institute of Art 

During the early sixth century in northern China, it was common to place stone memorial tablets in the tombs of the nobility. This protective cover, carved in low relief, contains remnants of bronze handles in the four corners and eight blank squares which were possibly used to position bronze ritual vessels during ancestral ceremonies. The incised decor, consisting of a pair of contending dragons and two phoenixes set against a cloud pattern, has both imperial and Daoist overtones in its symbolism. The low relief carving of this cover and the adjacent sarcophagus are important documents for the development of pictorial art in pre-Tang China.