Page 431 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Jade beaker with bronze basin stand form, and is decorated around the lip with a ring
of scroll design, below which are tiny projections
5
Height (overall) 17.0 (6 /s), height of basin 5.0 (i7s),
diam. of basin 23.6 (9 'A) linked by C-shaped scrolls; small pointed petals
the
and are repeated on
lower border,
compose
Western Han Dynasty, second century BCE the pedestal, which has narrow moldings at the top
From the tomb of the King of Nanyue at Xianggang,
and at the foot, and on the flange, which is formed
Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
of three large and three small alternating petals.
The Museum of the Western Han Tomb of the Gilded dragon-heads at the ends of slender silver
Nanyue King, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province bodies grip the small petals in their mouths to
support the beaker within its basin.
This complex object 1 is composed of a jade beaker The complex form, materials, and workmanship
that stands within a shallow bronze basin with a of this object indicate its value. It may have been
wide lip. The basin itself stands on three legs, each intended to collect the dew left by the immortals;
consisting of a schematized face mounted on a an Early Han period text, the Huai nan zi, alludes to
small animal-shaped leg; animals in relief decorate such "dew basins":
the side of the basin between each pair of legs. An When the burning-mirror sees the sun,
interior flange braces the serpentine dragons that It ignites tinder and produces fire,
support the beaker. When the square receptacle sees the moon,
The jade object is composed of three parts that 2
can be disassembled: a beaker, a pedestal foot, and It moistens and produces water.
a petaled flange inserted between the beaker and Square basins have not been found (although
its foot (fig. i). The beaker has a narrow tapering precise matches between recovered objects and

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