Living scene of a noble family， 4th/5th century Ink and colour on paper, divided by black lines into ten grids, each grid painted with figures and living scenes, one grid painted with two men in robes and hats seating on knees and having drinks, flanked by two grids painted with furniture on the top section; three grids on the middle section depicting five maids preparing food and beverage, above three grids in the lower section painted with a peasant and a bull farming in a field, framed and glazed. 63cm (24 3/4in) x 72.5cm (28 1/2in)Footnotes四/五世紀 佚名 高昌國風格紙畫 The result of Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory, New Zealand, Reference NZA 9407, on 2 November 1998, notes 95% confidence interval is 248 AD and 542 AD. 新西蘭地質及核可選研究所Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory實驗室放射性碳定年檢測報告顯示本拍品有95%的可能性處於公元248至542年 This painting recorded the daily life of aristocrats in Gaochang Kingdom. Gaochang, also called Karakhoja, is an ancient oasis city on the northern rim of the inhospitable Taklamakan Desert in present-day Xinjiang, China, where four independent statelets existed from the mid-5th century until the mid-7th century. The lifestyle of Han Chinese scholars and aristocrats spread to the outer areas of China during the Han Dynasty, even after the collapse of the central political power. The ear cup held by one of the male figures, the loose long robes and hats they wore display a significant influence from central China in the Han Dynasty, whereas the hairstyle and clothes of the female figures reveal a strong local taste. Compare with fragments of two paintings excavated from Khara-khara-khoto, Astana Cemetery, 5th century, illustrated by A.Stein, Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran, Oxford, 1928, vol.3, pl. CVII. 水墨紙本，畫面以黑色邊框分為十格, 最上三格描繪兩位長袍戴冠貴族文士對酌場景，兩側描繪室內家具，中間一層描繪六位侍女於庖廚中忙碌場景，有舂穀、磨面、煮食、裝盤等場景，底層繪一男子扶牛車耕種，畫面生動寫實，極富生活氣息。 此畫所繪為高昌古國貴族生活場景，從兩男性貴族裝束及手中所持羽觴杯來看，仍有濃郁漢代高級貴族或文士的遺風。高昌位於今新疆吐魯番，為古代連接西域和中土的樞紐，漢代在此屯田，設西域都護府。魏晉中央政府崩潰之後，此處出現多個匈奴人及漢人建立的獨立王國。1920年代斯坦因在吐魯番阿斯塔納地區發掘出極為類似的紙畫，見斯坦因，《亞洲腹地》，牛津，1928年，卷3，圖版CVII。