TANG-LIAO DYNASTY (AD 618-1125)

Belt ornaments were a highly important part of attire in ancient China as it revealed the person’s rank and status. Under Tang dynasty sumptuary laws and dress regulations, the number of belt plaques related directly to the rank of the wearer. In the Liao dynasty, clothing and accessories related very closely stylistically to those in the Tang dynasty because Tang dynasty sumptuary laws and dress regulations were adopted, and the tradition of high-ranking figures wearing elaborate belt ornaments continued. A similar gilt-silver belt set decorated with floral and phoenix designs is illustrated by J. White and E. Bunker in Adornment for Eternity: Status and Rank in Chinese Ornament, Denver, 1994, p. 166, no. 78. White and Bunker state that this belt set might have belonged to a woman because it is decorated with phoenix, an image associate with the empress. Compare, also, a set of gilt-silver belt ornaments dated to the Liao dynasty, but decorated with lions, illustrated by E. C. Bunker, J. M. White and J. F. So in Adornment for the Body and Soul: Ancient Chinese Ornaments from the Mengdiexuan Collection, 1999, p. 231, no. 99.