In the sixth and seventh centuries, donors and mortuary sculptors at the site known as Baoshan 寶山, near Anyang in present-day Henan, appear to have combined preexisting devotional imagery and eulogistic forms to create a distinctive style of commemoration. There are over two hundred mortuary niches with numerous inscriptions dedicated by monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen for deceased teachers and family members. Arranged in clusters on Baoshan and nearby Lanfengshan 嵐峰山, some of these niches still contain seated images. Some also include inscriptions that refer to the process of making an image of the deceased. In this article, I examine contexts for the innovative enshrinement of these representations in a manner formerly reserved for buddha-images. First I briefly survey the Buddhist background and underpinnings of Baoshan’s mortuary practices. The main body of the paper is dedicated to the five extant inscriptions that make references to the image-making process. Finally, I discuss distinctive soteriological concerns in this northern milieu during the sixth and seventh centuries, exploring possible influences on the creation of Baoshan’s “necropolis.”
