Tomb of Madam Sun Siniang

Tomb of Madam Sun Siniang

The tomb of Madam Sun Siniang from the Northern Song Dynasty is located to the south of Shangshu Dun in Sanyuan Village, Xiagang, Jiangyin City. In December 1980, the Suzhou Museum and the Jiangyin County Cultural Center conducted an excavation and cleanup of the tomb.

Madam Sun Siniang (995–1055) was the wife of Ge Guan, an official serving as the Langzhong of the Board of Geography during the Northern Song Dynasty. She was granted the title of “Lady of Rui’chang County” and was a devout Buddhist female disciple who enjoyed chanting Buddhist scriptures. She passed away in the second year of the Zhihe era (1055) during the Northern Song Dynasty.

The tomb is a single-chamber grouted burial structure containing one coffin and one outer coffin. At the four corners of the wooden outer coffin were placed pottery jars, while in front of the coffin were wooden funerary objects such as an offering table and a chair, along with a wooden land deed. The deceased held a silk document in her hands. Burial items included 11 scrolls of scriptures, including handwritten copies of the Diamond Sutra, Heart Sutra, Avalokiteshvara Sutra, The Northern Dipper Seven Stars Life-Extending Sutra, and the Scripture of Eternal Purity Spoken by Laozi, as well as carved scriptures such as the Golden Light Sutra and the Diamond Sutra. Based on inscriptions at the end of the scrolls, they date to the first year of the Duan'gong era (988), the sixth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era (1013), and the first year of the Zhihe era (1054) of the Northern Song Dynasty. Additionally, the site yielded wooden figurines such as the Four Spirits, civil and military attendants, the Twelve Earthly Branches, and tomb guardians, as well as furniture models, grooming items, documents, and land deeds. Notably, the four legs of the wooden offering table and the rear legs of the wooden chair each had a small wooden figurine affixed to their inner sides — a type of wooden funerary artifact that is quite rare. Particularly precious are the collection of Northern Song Dynasty scriptures unearthed in the tomb.