1018年，辽朝的一位年仅18岁的契丹公主去世，被安葬在驸马的身边。她的丈夫比她年长近20岁，在前一年刚刚去世，两人大婚还不足两年。
他们的墓葬位于今天中国东北部内蒙古自治区的通辽市，在那里，这对夫妇静静地躺了将近一千年。
In 1018, a princess of China’s Liao Dynasty (916-1125) died, at the tender age of 18, and was laid to rest beside her husband, almost 20 years her senior who died the previous year, barely two years into their marriage. There they lay undisturbed for nearly a millennium in a corner of the modern-day Inner Mongolia autonomous region in North China.
苏州博物馆“北方有佳人——内蒙古自治区文物考古研究院辽代女性文物展”中展出的金面具
这个安息之所于1986年被发现，并震惊了中国的考古界：作为辽朝统治阶级最高等级的贵族成员，公主和驸马的合葬墓中尽是金和鎏金的饰品，包括覆盖在他们脸上的两张纯金覆面。
When their resting place was finally discovered by archaeologists in 1986, the couple, both among the highest nobility of Liao’s ruling class, proved their capacity to dazzle, with everything that glittered, including two gold masks covering their faces.
金面具，内蒙古通辽市陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土，出土时覆盖于公主的面部
其中公主所戴的这件覆面，现在正在苏州博物举办的名为《北方有佳人》的展览中展出，展览于6月30日结束。
策展人许鑫城用一百余件来自内蒙古自治区文物考古研究院的精美展品，讲述了一个关于辽代贵族女性的故事。基于她们的特殊身份，这些女性几乎无一例外地为延续辽朝统治阶级内部的政治联盟发挥了作用。
Today, one of the masks, as worn by the princess, is on view at the Suzhou Museum in Suzhou city, East China’s Jiangsu province, in an exhibition titled La Bella in the Northern Land. “These were no average beauties, but princesses and royal consorts whose elevated status meant much more than a luxurious lifestyle,” says Xu Xincheng, the exhibition’s curator. With more than 100 exhibits, all from the Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xu intends to tell — to use his own words — “the little-known stories of these noble women, almost all of whom had a role to play in the support and continuation of a political alliance lying at the heart of Liao’s imperial rule”.
苏博的展览讲述了一个有关中国辽代女性的故事
这种联盟可以追溯到辽朝立朝之初：辽朝的第一位皇帝耶律阿保机在崛起的过程中，受到了同样野心勃勃的妻子述律平及其家族的重要支持。阿保机曾自比汉高祖刘邦，而述律平家族以及阿保机的母族后来都被改姓了萧，意在效仿汉高祖刘邦的肱骨之臣萧何。
That alliance can be traced back to the very beginning of the Liao Dynasty, whose first emperor Yelyu Abaoji received crucial backing from his equally ambitious wife, Shulyu Ping, and her family. The latter group later adopted the surname Xiao, modeling themselves on Xiao He, the right-hand man of Liu Bang, founder of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) in whom Abaoji saw himself.
“自那时起，辽朝皇后，除一例外，都姓萧。实际上，可以毫不夸张地说，几乎每一位耶律氏皇族成员都与一位萧氏后族成员相结合，反之亦然。这种安排的必然结果，就是纵横交错甚至令现代人感觉匪夷所思的婚姻和家庭关系。”策展人说。“刚刚提到的这位公主，她的祖父是辽朝的第五位皇帝，而她的丈夫萧绍矩则是她的舅舅。”
“Ever since then, all of the Liao empresses — main wife to the Liao emperors — were surnamed Xiao with only one notable exception. In fact, it’s not exaggerating to say that almost every Yelyu had married a Xiao, and vice versa. The resulting familial relations could be absolutely daunting from a modern perspective,” says Xu, referring to the marriage between the princess whose paternal grandfather was the fifth emperor of Liao, and her husband, Xiao Shaoju, who was also the princess’ maternal uncle.
嵌水晶绿松石蟾蜍形金戒指，出土于通辽市吐尔基山辽墓，墓主被认为有可能是辽太祖耶律阿保机的妹妹余庐睹姑公主，戒指出土时佩戴于墓主手指上
几乎所有女性都对美这件事情有着孜孜不倦的追求，展览中的几位女主角儿们也不例外。从那位公主的墓中——从墓志中得知，她被封为陈国公主——出土了一只龙纹鎏金银奁。发现时，银奁里装有几个较小的银盒，其中两个盒子里面残留的白色或黑色粉末被考古工作人员认为是脂粉。
类似的物品在通辽吐尔基山辽墓也有出土。该墓的墓主是一位30-35岁左右的女性，一些研究人员认为有可能是耶律阿保机的妹妹余庐睹姑公主。
Few aristocratic ladies would treat matters of beauty casually, certainly not the show’s protagonists. From the tomb of the princess — more commonly known as the Princess of the State (fiefdom) of Chen — came a dragon-embossed gilt silver makeup case which, upon its discovery, yielded several smaller silver cases, some tainted with residues of face powder and blush. Similar items, decorated with dragon, phoenix and lion patterns, have been found from the tomb — also located in Inner Mongolia — of a lady whom some researchers suggest was a sister of Abaoji, a member of the nomadic Khitan people.
“金银器由于其便携性，在辽代社会的贵族生活中占据了重要地位，这一点也适用于包括古代突厥在内的其他亚欧草原游牧民族。”参与了几座重要辽代墓葬发掘工作的内蒙古自治区文物考古研究院副院长盖志勇说。
龙纹金花银妆奁，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土
银盒，出土时置于龙纹金花银妆奁内，其中一盒内残留白色粉末，另外一盒内装有一块已变色的黑褐色胭脂
而在金银器制作方面，辽代直接受到了曾经无比强大的唐王朝（618-907）的影响。唐朝曾于648年在契丹之地置松漠都督府，而当唐朝在安史之乱由盛转衰直至灭亡时，已经统一了契丹各部落的阿保机抓住机会，于唐亡九年后的916年建立了辽。
“Gold and silver wares, thanks partly to their portability, featured prominently in the aristocratic life of the Liao society, as it did with other nomadic groups, the ancient Turkic people for example,” says Gai Zhiyong, deputy director of the Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region who’s closely involved in the excavation of several prominent Liao tombs. In that respect, Liao had come under the direct influence of the once-powerful Tang Dynasty (618-907), which in 648 made the traditional Khitan land its protectorate. When the fortunes of Tang started to wane, Abaoji, who had united the various Khitan tribes, rose to seize the opportunity, establishing the rule of Liao in 916.
人物纹八棱金杯，吐尔基山辽墓出土
伎乐纹八棱金杯，陕西西安何家村唐代窖藏出土，与辽墓出土的金杯一样，都带有明显的域外造型和装饰风格
据盖志勇所说，由于唐代古丝绸之路贸易的繁荣，唐朝的金银器除继承了中原的传统外，还往往带有“异域”的印记，比如粟特和萨珊波斯的风格。而策展人许鑫城则认为，唐代的开放性和国际化对辽的影响深远。展览中的一些琥珀、水晶和玻璃制品被认为极有可能来自波罗的海地区、阿拉伯地区或是拜占庭帝国。
“One of the things Liao had inherited from Tang was the gold and silver making tradition which, thanks to the flourishing of the Ancient Silk Road trade during the Tang time, had come to bear multiple stylistic imprints ranging from Chinese to Sogdian and Sassanian,” says Gai. However, according to Xu, “it was the spirit of internationalism that must have counted as Tang’s single most important bequest to Liao”.
琥珀项链，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土
“许多这样的物质文化交流是通过草原丝绸之路进行的，这条路线向西延伸穿越欧亚草原，直达地中海地区将辽朝与沿途的其他文化联系起来。在辽统治时期，传统的丝绸之路的西域段是被与其关系紧张的西夏王朝所占据的，在这种情况下，草原丝路成为辽与外界沟通的重要通道。”许鑫城说。
Pointing to all the agate bracelets, amber necklaces as well as crystal and glass ware that are on view at the exhibition, the curator says: “Some of them may have come from the Baltic Sea region, the Middle East or the Byzantine Empire. Many of these exchanges were conducted along what’s known today as the Steppe Silk Road which, extending westward across the Eurasian Steppe, linked Liao with other cultures along the way.”
乳钉纹高颈玻璃瓶，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土
文化的融合性也体现在精神领域。陪伴陈国公主入葬的鎏金银冠顶上装饰有道教的元始天尊，而吐尔基山辽墓中则发现了一对镶嵌绿松石的摩竭造型的金耳坠。摩竭起源与印度，随着佛教传入中国，并且在中国演化为一种龙首鱼身的形象，常常出现在饰物和器物的装饰纹样中。墓主本人被认为是一位女萨满，头上佩戴着表明萨满巫师身份的金头箍。
The same hybridity could be found in the spiritual realm. While the gilt silver crown that had accompanied the Princess of the State of Chen in death features a Taoist deity on top, the pair of turquoise-embedded gold earrings from that suspected sister of Abaoji were Makara-shaped. Makara is a dragon-headed, fish-bodied mythical animal first introduced into China along with Buddhism. The latter was also believed to be a female shaman, her identity indicated by, among other things, her gold headband that was typically worn by Liao shaman priests.
高翅鎏金银冠，冠顶缀道教元始天尊造像，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土，出土时置于公主头部上方左侧
镶嵌绿松石摩竭形金耳坠，吐尔基山辽墓出土
谈到陈国公主和驸马时，密歇根州立大学历史学教授琳达·库克·约翰逊（Linda Cooke Johnson）在她的书中写道：“公主和她的丈夫穿戴整齐，似乎可以随时一跃上马，驰骋于他们封国的广袤草原上。”合葬墓中发现了几乎是这对夫妇在游牧生活中可能需要的一切，包括颇似现代西方骑马靴的鎏金银靴，以及各种马具，甚至还有一面铜燧用于生火，以及一块出土时套于驸马左臂之上的玉臂鞲（盾形物），据说是供猎鹰每次返回主人身边时停歇所用。
When discussing the final resting place for the Princess of the State of Chen and her husband, Linda Cooke Johnson, the professor of history at Michigan State University, wrote in her book that “the princess and her consort were dressed and equipped to mount their steeds and ride off across the steppes of their fiefdom.” Found in their burial chamber were almost everything the couple might need for a pastoral life, including gilt silver boots worn that resembled “modern Western riding boots” to quote Johnson, as well as various horse gear — gilt copper chest traps, bridles and stirrups for example. There’s even a copper burning mirror for starting a fire, and a jade arm shield on which a hunting eagle could alight every time it returned to its master.
凤纹金花银靴，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土，出土时穿于公主银丝足网之外
成书于元代的《辽史》中记载，“辽以鞍马为家，后妃往往长于射御，军旅田猎，未尝不从。”
“The Liao people lived on horseback, even empresses and royal concubines were accomplished archers and riders who followed their husbands in military campaigns as well as leisure hunting trips,” says the exhibition’s curator Xu Xincheng, quoting Liaoshi, or The Annals of Liao, compiled during the mid-14th century.
作为辽朝的开国皇后，述律平在其夫阿保机走向权力巅峰的过程中起着至关重要的作用。事实上，无论是在战场上还是在辽廷激烈的政治斗争中，她都不放过任何一个给敌人致命一击的机会。
镶玉银带，垂挂于鞍座左右两侧的鞍翅上，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土
述律平（应天太后）卓越的军事和政治才能似乎被未来的辽朝皇后，尤其是她自己的曾孙女萧绰所继承。作为辽朝第五位皇帝辽景宗的妻子，萧绰在景宗去世后奉其遗诏为自己年仅11岁的儿子辽圣宗摄政，并在此后主政辽朝长达27年，直至1009年去世前不久。值得一提的是，萧绰（承天太后）亦是陈国公主的祖母，公主的尊崇地位由此也可见一斑。
Playing an indispensable role in her husband’s highly controversial ascendance to power, Shulyu Ping, the founding empress of Liao, had almost never failed to deliver fatal blows to her foes, on and off the battleground. Her remarkable military skills and political maneuvering were passed on to future imperial wives of Liao, most notably her own great-granddaughter Xiao Chuo, who was in turn the paternal grandmother of the Princess of State of Chen. Wife to the fifth emperor of Liao, Xiao Chuo acted as the powerful regent for her teenage emperor son upon the death of her husband, and effectively presided over the Liao court for 27 years until her own passing in 1009.
1004年秋，太后萧绰与辽圣宗亲率大军南下深入宋境。1005年初，宋辽在澶州（河南濮阳）签订合约，结束了双方长达二十五年的战争，史称“澶渊之盟”。此后的一百年，宋辽边境基本处于和平状态。而御戎澶渊同时也主导了宋辽和谈的萧太后，既可统帅三军，同时又是和平的缔造者。
Equally celebrated as a warrior and a peacemaker, Xiao commanded armies during Liao’s prolonged war with its neighbor, the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), before allowing a peace treaty to be signed that ushered in approximately a century of relative peace for the two major powers.
总体而言，相较于汉族人口占主体的、以儒家文化为主导的北宋社会来说，辽代社会的性别分工要模糊得多。然而，宋辽之间的密切往来，尤其是在澶渊之盟订立后，使得中原儒家文化迅速渗入到契丹社会中，对其生活习惯和观念都产生了影响。在研究了一些出土的辽代女性墓志铭后，约翰逊教授认为，在辽代，将女性的受教育程度与女德联系在一起，已经比较常见了。
On the whole, gender division was less closely observed in the Liao society than it was in Northern Song, dominated by the Han Chinese. However, strong elements of the Han Chinese culture did make their way into the life of Khitans, giving rise to, among other things, a tendency to “link education with (feminine) virtue” to quote Johnson, who studied the epitaphs of Liao women.
在苏州博物馆展出的展品中，有一件玉水盂和一方玉砚，两者都是典型的汉族士大夫文房用品，都出现在陈国公主和驸马合葬墓中。
On display at the Suzhou Museum exhibition are a beautifully carved jade water container and a jade ink-stone, items typically belonging to the study of a Han Chinese scholar. Both were from the burial chamber of the princess and her husband.
玉水盂和玉砚，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土
1974年，在中国东北辽宁省沈阳市叶茂台镇发现了一座辽代古墓，墓主人是一位年长的女性。她身上契丹风格的服饰，金丝刻丝面的靴子和墓葬一间侧室里存放着的马具彰显了这位墓主人的契丹身份。然而悬挂在她棺室中的两幅保存完好的立轴绢画——这也是目前辽墓中出土的仅有的两幅绢画——都表明了她对汉文化是抱有极大的热情的。
In 1974, a Liao Dynasty tomb was discovered in the town of Yemaotai in Northeast China’s Liaoning province. The deceased — an elderly woman — was dressed in Khitan style with gilt silver riding boots on her feet and horse equipment stored in one of the side chambers. However, the piles of scroll books lining the tomb’s interior walls and the two exceptionally well-preserved hanging scroll paintings that had been rolled up and placed in her coffin left little doubt as to the seriousness of her engagement with classical Chinese culture.
绢画《竹雀双兔图》和《深山会棋图》，辽宁沈阳法库叶茂台七号辽墓出土，迄今为止，辽墓出土的绢画仅此两幅
在合葬墓中，陈国公主与驸马躺在同一块石棺床上，她的的腰部位置出土了各种物品，其中除了玉石和琥珀挂饰外，还有镂空设计的金荷包和一个錾花金针筒。
鸿雁形盒琥珀佩饰，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土
镂花金荷包，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土，出土时置于公主腰部左侧
錾花金针筒，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土，出土时置于公主腰部左侧
此外还有一对带链的小金盒，据策展人说，可能是盛放脂粉的容器，挂在腰间，便于公主在外出骑马的时候随时简单地补妆。
Sharing the same stone funerary bed with her husband, the Princess of the State of Chen had a miscellany of things dangling from her waist. These included, apart from jade and amber pendants, a cylindrical gold sewing case for needles, and a gold pouch whose openwork design was possibly influenced by the Northern Song style. There was also a pair of small gold cases with attaching chains. “These could be face powder containers, allowing the princess to give her makeup a few touch-ups without having to get off the saddle,” says Xu.
八曲联弧形金盒，陈国公主与驸马合葬墓出土，出土时置于公主腰部右侧，或为粉盒
在出土的墓志铭中，这位芳龄18岁就匆匆辞世的公主被形容为兼具高贵的仪态和谦逊的品格。（“玉德琢成，静含温润，兰仪秀出，动发英华”） 孩提时代她聪慧机敏。（“公主幼而聪辩。”）
也许正因如此，撰写铭文的人才在文末发出“自古人虽皆有死，陈国公主太夭年”的感叹。
陈国公主墓志拓片
In her stone-inscribed epitaph, the highborn princess, who died at 18, was said to have carried herself with a combination of dignity and humbleness. “She adhered reverently to feminine virtues”, read the epitaph, the words reminiscent of Confucian teachings. Yet as a child, she was “smart and skilled in argument”. “The end comes to all, but for the princess, it has arrived a little too soon,” the final sentence of the epitaph went.
记者：赵旭
编辑：左卓
热门跟贴