China
Death Mask
China. Quidan people, Liao Dynasty (907-1125)
Gilded bronze, excavation patina
Height: 24.5 cm
Former collection of Michael Steinhardt
Inv: 221-52
The poem in translation:
The light is concentrated
in the gold where I close my eyes.
Through my eyelids, I see
the sleep of my descendants;
I slip into their dreams
to give them my news
and light up the impasses
where adversity lies in wait