Friday’s Art Notes

A relief showing maiden figures on the sarcophagus of Tang empress Wu Huifei (AD 699-737) is seen at Shaanxi History Museum in Xi’an, Shaanxi province of China. The 27-ton stone coffin of Tang empress Wu Huifei (AD 699-737) arrived at the Shaanxi History Museum on Thursday, four years after it was smuggled out of the country. The sarcophagus is 4 meters long, 2 meters wide and 2 meters high, featuring flowers and maiden figures in relief. Robbers stole it from Wu’s tomb in the southern suburbs of Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province, in 2006. Photo by ChinaFotoPress/ Getty Images

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Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago has died at his home in the Canary Islands at the age of 87, via the New York Times. Saramago was the author of the novels “Blindness,” “Seeing,” and “The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis.”

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Britsh artist Sebastian Horsley, who, as part of his artistic expression, attempted to have himself crucified in the Phillippines in 2000, was found dead in London, via BBC.

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The Getty Museum launched a new website with teaching lessons created by major artists for elementary through high school students, via ARTINFO.

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The Guardian has a slide show of early photos of human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi as a young woman, in time for her 65th birthday tomorrow.