This paper re-examines the iconography and functions of the Ning Mao Stone House, dated 527, in the light of recent archaeological discoveries. Many scholars have linked the Ning Mao Stone House (in the collection of MFA, Boston) with houseshaped sarcophagi that are common in tombs of the Northern Dynasties, and have concluded that the Ning Mao Stone House functioned as a sarcophagus. Through a careful study of its material, structure, and pictorial program, however, this paper proposes that the Stone House was an offering shrine rather than another house-shaped sarcophagus.Inside the Stone House, two side panels with depictions of a kitchen and servants offering food frame the central panel, which is blank. The Buddhist teaching of no killing probably has influenced the depiction of the kitchen, shown here without the traditional slaughter scene. Although a portrait of the deceased does not appear on the central panel, in front of it there may have been a ritual object that symbolized the presence of the deceased. The standing figures depicted on the back of the central panel are living family of Ning Mao, rather than Ning Mao and his wife, as commonly noted. An intimate relationship exists between the outside and the inside: the living family outside attend to the deceased inside. Similar positioning can be found on Buddhist steles, where images of donors often appear on the back. In addition, scenes from Biographies of the Filial Sons adorn the exterior of the shrine, further strengthening the theme of filial piety. These images and texts define the spaces of the shrine and their meanings: "offering" for the interior and "filial piety" for the exterior. The complementary ideas correspond to, and are further enhanced by the paired spaces of the Stone House.
