2-742-243 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Stone Panel for Royal Tomb, late 700s-early 800s. This panel shows a figure with a human body and the features of a rat, which is one of the signs of the Asian zodiac, and is likely one of 12 granite panels from a royal tomb. It is probably from Gyeongju—the capital of the kingdoms of the Old Shilla (57 BC-AD 668) and Unified Shilla (688-935) periods—where large royal tomb mounds can still be found. This panel resembles those showing the animal signs of the Korean zodiac from the tomb of General Kim Yusin (595-673) in Gyeongju, the most famous tomb of the period.