Now one rich family's hopes for the afterlife created more than 1000 years ago in one of these caves has been transported using augmented 3D technology to the Art Gallery of NSW for its new exhibition on the Tang Dynasty, opening on Saturday.

While Europe was mired in the Dark Ages, the Tang Empire (618-907) was the richest and most powerful realm in the world with a new openness that was reflected in its art.

The Silk Road brought in foreigners; Wu Zetian, a long-reigning female emperor (the only one in China's history) helped elevate the position of women; and wealth fostered new and more colourful art, some of it displaying a striking sense of humour.

"It was really lively, romantic and full of life," said the AGNSW's curator of Chinese art, Yin Cao. "People were more relaxed because of the wealth, which made them more confident and tolerant."

Exotic foreign goods stimulated artists and craftsman to try new things. Before Tang, the art was grayish. During Tang, the art – reflected in the ceramics on display and the colour of the clothes depicted – became more colourful.

The exhibition includes works from 11 Chinese institutions, including a 9th century tea grinder that belonged to Emperor Xizong, and an early 8th century mural from the walls inside Prince Jiemin's tomb.

Buddhism flourished during Tang, and the exhibition includes a Hayagriva statue from the site of the Anguo Monastery, one of the important Buddhist centres during the dynasty, said Ms Cao.

Within the cave, the murals and statues tell the story of the Medicine Buddha Sutra and the twelve great vows the Buddha took upon enlightenment. The nearly real-life reconstruction – the size of a large living room – depicts the Zhai family's hopes for the afterlife using augmented 3D technology that seems to resurrect the dead: two dancers depicted on the north wall suddenly appear and dance.

Using one of the iPads that visitors will use when the exhibition opens today, the creator of the reconstructed cave UNSW's Professor Kenderdine zeroed in on a harp which began to levitate. Bright coloured clothes suddenly appeared out of the dark.

Cave no 220, as the Zhai family's vision is listed today, is one of 492 caves with murals spanning 45,000 square metres and containing 2500 stucco statues that gave the World Heritage site their name. Like most of the caves, it is now closed to the public, said Professor Kenderdine.

Any visitors who are allowed to see the caves in the World Heritage site have to be content with the light of a shared torch, she said.

It took three months to complete the photo array and laser scans that were used as the basis to recreate the walls and ceiling of the cave. She said the room could be used to teach anyone about the Tang Dynasty.

"You could teach philosophy, Buddhism, economics," she said, noting that the rich family that paid for the tomb to carry them into the afterlife are portrayed on the wall.

"You can teach the history of fashion: They're super beautiful stockings," she said pointing at one of the women on the north wall. "You couldn't buy them at Prada," said Professor Kenderdine before correcting herself. "Actually, you could buy them at Prada," she said.

Twelve zodiac animals 700s earthenware unearthed from a Tang-era tomb at Xian University of Technology, Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, is on display at the Art Gallery of NSW in the Tang: treasures from the silk road capital, 9 April to 10 July 2016.