The tomb was discovered in 1911,[4] and the components of the funerary bed were dispersed among various museums in the world after being offered on the art market.

[2][5] It is thought the funerary bed was excavated in Anyang (ancient Zhangdefu), capital of the Northern Qi dynasty.

[6] Gustina Scaglia was the first to recognize in 1958 that the pieces scattered in several museums belonged to a single funerary couch made for a member of the Sogdian community in China.

Chinese stone funerary beds of similar shape were a standard feature of the period in northern China since the 5th century CE, but were most probably an adaptation from the Western regions, as the earliest example of funerary stone beds can be found in 3rd and 4th century Kucha, and Chinese stone beds were often associated with foreign ethnicity (Xianbei, Tuyuhun...) and possibly Buddhism or Zoroastrianism.

[12] Other tombs from Anyang are known to have contained objects with Central Asian influence, such as a jar decorated with Central Asian dancer and musicians, from the tomb of a Northern Qi official at Anyang, and dated to 575 CE.