Miniature of Joint Burial

This sculpture is presumed to portray a married couple in their death bed. The top is a relief carving of the couple lying intheir bed, holding hands, with a pillow under their heads and a shroud thrown over their bodies. The man is on the right, wearing an official’s hat, and the woman lies on the left. In the corner above both of their heads, there is a large circle, and smaller circles are engraved adjacent to their heads (six for the man, and seven for the woman) in the shape of a ladle. The large circles seem to symbolize the sun and the moon, while the smaller circles likely represent the Big and Little Dipper. The sides of the sculpture are elaborately engraved with a decorative motif in the shape of lotus flowers. The couple appears to be slipping serenely into the deep and eternal sleep of death. Although the exact purpose of the sculpture is unknown, it recalls a bed for the dead in the stone-chamber tombs of Silla.