The Morthouse

Bronze Eyeshade, 7th-9th Century AD. Source: Penn Museum on Flickr.

Bronze Eyeshade, 7th-9th century, Excavated from Tomb No. 227, Astana, Turpan, © Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum Collection.

This eyeshade was hammered from a piece of bronze placed over a mold. It was found covering the eyes of the tomb’s occupant. The border of the eyeshade has been punched with small holes that would have been decorated with textiles.

Eyeshades like these were worn for the same reasons we wear sunglasses today, to keep out sun, wind, and sand drifts. However in the Tufpan region during the Tang dynasty, eyeshades were not used for this purpose. They were funerary items used for covering the eyes of the tomb’s occupant. In the Astana tombs of this time it was customary to cover the face with a piece of cloth. The area where the eyes should be was cut from the face cover and then an eyeshade like this one was sewn to the fabric.

Abraham Lincoln’s corpse had quite the afterlife, including a cross-country funeral tour, several theft attempts, and at least one exhumation. From Wikipedia: 

The original tomb was in constant need of repair and deteriorated significantly due to construction on unsuitable soil. In 1900, a complete reconstruction of Lincoln’s tomb was undertaken. In April 25, 1901, upon completion of the reconstruction, Robert Todd Lincoln visited the tomb. He was unhappy with the disposition of his father’s remains and decided that, in order to prevent theft and other disturbances, it was necessary to build a permanent crypt for his father. Lincoln’s coffin would be placed in a steel cage 10 feet (3.0 m) deep and encased in concrete in the floor of the tomb. On September 26, 1901, Lincoln’s body was exhumed so that it could be re-interred in the newly built crypt. However, those present (a total of 23 people) feared that his body might have been stolen in the intervening years, so they decided to open the coffin and check.

It was said that a harsh choking smell arose when the casket was opened. Lincoln was perfectly recognizable, even more than thirty years after his death. His face was a bronze color, from the gunshot wound that shattered the bones in his face and damaged the tissue. The color was unhealed bruises. His hair, beard and mole were all perfectly preserved although his eyebrows were gone. His suit was covered with a yellow mold and his gloves had rotted on his hands. On his chest, they could see some bits of red fabric — remnants of the American flag with which he was buried, which had by then disintegrated. It was theorized that Lincoln had been embalmed so many times on board his funeral train that he had been practically mummified.

Image: “Abraham Lincoln’s suit and hat,” New York Public Library’s “Pageant of America” Photograph Archive.