Portraits found in tomb may include image of Confucius

Two pieces of gold in the form of horse hoofs were unearthed from the tomb of Haihunhou in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, on Saturday. [Photo by Wang Xiang/Xinhua]

The restored screen is 50 to 60 centimeters wide and 70 to 80 centimeters tall. Both portraits are blurred, but details of the subjects' collars and robes are clearly seen, said Zhang.

"We assume the tomb owner respected Confucius and had a Confucius portrait painted on the screen," said Zhang. "After he died, his family buried his favorite screen with him, even though such screens were not conventional burial items in Chinese funerary customs."

Zhang, an archaeologist from Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, is leading the excavation of the tomb of Haihunhou, or the Marquis of Haihun, which dates back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24).

The tomb owner is believed to be Liu He, grandson of Emperor Wu, whose reign ushered in one of the most prosperous periods in China's history.