With the vast archaeological excavation of tombs undertaken in various areas of China since 1970s, tombs decorated with murals provide valuable materials for the study of Chinese paintings before the Southern Song period when our knowledge of painting was limited to several extant works and written records. This article examines the evolution of bird-and-flower painting in well preserved burials of Five dynasties, Liao, and Northern Song period when bird-and-flower painting began to developed as an independent genre and flourished with different styles, and defines the relevance and function of bird-and-flower painting in a funerary context. The painting of peony and rock in the tomb of Wang Chuzhi in Quyang, Hebei province created in 923, clarified the style of decorative flower painting known only from written record, and it shows that Five dynasties continued the late Tang practice of representing bird-and-flower motifs in graves. Recent excavations of Liao tombs located in modern Hebei, Shandong, Inner Mongolia unearthed the bird-and-flower paintings dating from the tenth through the early twelfth centuries. Liao bird-and-flower paintings with garden rocks depicted on the most important wall of the tomb in the replicas of multi-paneled folding screen explain their function in funerary context which carried auspicious wishes for the welfare of the deceased and continued prosperity of his descendants. These bird-and-flower screens affected by Chinese funeral practices and painting styles continued to be used in Liao tombs as shown in the tombs in Xuanhua area. Unlike the Liao tombs lavishly decorated with wall paintings, tombs of Northern Song scholar-officials show the simple construction and the lack of decoration. Archaeological evidence of tombs from the Northen Song reveals that the majority of the occupants of tombs decorated with paintings were non-official land owners or wealthy merchants in north China. Although some Northern Song graves are decorated with bird-and-flower motifs, the majority of images are related to the architectural furnishings, and none of them are placed along the north wall, adjacent to the burial platform, which explain their changed meaning and function in funerary context. Examples of wall paintings discussed in this article also reflect the subject matter and styles of bird-and-flower painting practiced by well known contemporary artists, but only known to us by attributed works and written records. Therefore, close study of these tomb murals would shed more light for the better understanding of the bird-and-flower painting which came to be appreciated and recognized as an important genre of Chinese painting during the period of Five dynasties, Liao and Northern Song.