Page 339 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Horn carved with three dragons then at least periodically, and as early as remote
antiquity.
Height 10.2 (4), diam. at widest point 1.9 (%) The sculpture was discovered in the northern
Middle Warring States Period, c. second half of the
chamber of Tomb 2 at Baoshan, preserved in a bam-
fourth century BCE (before 316)
boo casket that contained several items for personal
From Baoshan, Jingmen, Hubei Province
adornment, including a wig, four jade and bone
Jingzhou Prefecture Museum, Hubei Province ornaments, and a tiny sculpture of mythical animals
carved from a root. The antler sculpture likely
This rare piece was made from a single antler, from served a similar function and was perhaps worn on
1
which it takes its pointed shape. Three dragons are a hat or in the hair. AT
carved in the round, their snakelike bodies twisting
i Excavated in 1987; published: Hubei 1991,1:261,
together into a spiral as each bites the body of fig. 174.2; 2: pi. 87.1.
another. Each deeply carved figure in the composi-
tion is mutually independent, secured to the others
at the points of dramatic contact: the two larger
dragons grip each other with their front legs; hav-
ing none, the smallest dragon must make do with
his mouth. This miniature sculpture exemplifies the
deep roots of tour-de-force work in the Chinese
applied arts; such work was highly valued, if not
continuously throughout the history of the arts,

33 8 C H U A N D O T H E R C U L T U R E S