Page 405 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China
P. 405

135

                        Bronze ram-shaped lamp                       Lamps appear relatively late in the  repertoire of
                                                                     Chinese bronzes, and  seem to have come into use
                        Height  18.6 (/Vs), length  23.0  (9  Vs)
                                                                     only during the  Eastern Zhou period.  Fine examples
                        Western Han  Dynasty, late second  century BCE  dating to the  mid-fourth  century have come  from
                        (c. 113)                                     the  tombs of the  early Zhongshan kingdom of the
                        From the  tomb of Liu Sheng at Lingshan,
                        Mancheng, Hebei Province                     Di people; these tombs contain spectacular exam-
                                                                     ples, one in the  shape of a tree, from  which hang
                        Hebei Provincial Museum, Shijiazhuang        various monkeys, and another  in the  form of an
                                                                     unusual being, perhaps an immortal, holding lamp
                                                                                          1
                                                                     trays supported  by snakes.  Other pieces from  the
                                                                     Chu state in the  south  include lamps held in the



                        404   EARLY  I M P E R I A L CHIN A
   400   401   402   403   404   405   406   407   408   409   410