Skip to main content

Secondary sourceSculpture1727

Stone Tablet Relief of Confucius from Hsianfu

1727

A 1727 carved stone tablet from Shaanxi showing Confucius in formal robes and headwear, made many centuries after his death.

This later carving imagines Confucius's appearance, showing how he was honoured as a wise figure centuries after his life.

Ask Confucius about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Black-and-white rubbing of a stone relief showing a bearded man in a tall, feathered hat with a decorated band, long beard, and layered robes with sashes. Chinese seal stamps appear at upper right.
Unknown artist, stone tablet relief of Confucius, 1727. From Hsianfu, Shensi.

About this source

What it is

This is a rubbing taken from a stone relief tablet carved in 1727 at Hsianfu (Xi'an), in Shaanxi province, China. The maker is unknown. It shows a bearded man wearing a tall, feathered hat with a decorated band and layered robes with sashes, with Chinese seal stamps in the corner.

Why it matters

Confucius lived many centuries before this carving was made, so it does not show his real appearance. Instead it reflects how later generations imagined and honoured him as a model of wisdom and dignity, dressed in the formal style associated with scholars and officials.

Look closer

  • What details in the clothing and hat suggest status or wisdom?
  • Why might artists centuries later still want to create new images of Confucius?
  • What does the seal stamp tell us about how this rubbing was recorded or owned?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Confucius on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Confucius sources

Meet the AI Confucius →
Scan of a page from a Japanese woodblock-printed edition of the Analects (Rongo), in vertical columns of Chinese characters. The header reads 論語 and 卷二八 (volume two). The page has yellowed paper, a central fold, and a printed page number at the bottom.Book

Secondary source

Analects

c. 480 BCE – 2nd century BCE

Front cover of a bound Chinese book with blue-grey patterned silk brocade of cloud scrolls. A tan label on the left bears large black brush characters reading 聖蹟圖 and a smaller 前頁, with a red seal impression below. The cover edges are worn.Book

Secondary source

Pictures of the Sage's Traces

Unknown · 1758

Book

Secondary source

Records of the Grand Historian, Vol. 47: Hereditary House of Confucius

Sima Qian · c. 94 BCE

Black and white photograph of an interior hall with a carved wooden altar and incense burners on a long table, flanked by large pillars with Chinese characters on the walls and red-framed inscriptions; the view looks toward a shrine niche with ornate wooden canopy.Photograph

Primary source

Temple of Confucius, Peking (Interior)

John Thomson · 1871

Two facing pages of a classical Chinese manuscript in black ink brush calligraphy on aged, yellowed paper, written in vertical columns with some smaller annotation characters between lines. The text is a commentary on a historical chronicle, with the handwriting appearing in a regular, cursive-influenced style.Document

Secondary source

Spring and Autumn Annals

Confucius · 5th century BCE

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Confucius now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions