Coffin Box Panel: Arranging an Outdoor Banquet, 10th–early 11th century

During the Liao dynasty, the Khitan people ruled over an empire that included present-day Mongolia, eastern Russia, northern Korea, and northern China. They adopted many aspects of Chinese art and life into their culture: the distant landscape forms, clouds, and figures found in these panels are drawn in a style that recalls earlier Tang dynasty artistic models, which maintained a stronger influence in Liao regions than in Song dynasty China, to the south.

The appropriation of Chinese traditions did not, however, extinguish Liao cultural traits. For example, many Liao paintings focus on outdoor or equestrian lifestyles. In Outdoor Banquet, the two figures on the right wear Liao hairstyles, with long locks in front of each ear, and all four men wear typical Liao footwear. The combination of such intercultural features and painting styles suggests that the panels come from the Liao-Song border, possibly the present-day area along the border with Mongolia in central China.