CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

n6
Horn carved with three dragons
Height 10.2 (4), diam. at widest point 1.9 (%)
Middle Warring States Period, c. second half of the
fourth century BCE (before 316)
From Baoshan, Jingmen, Hubei Province
Jingzhou Prefecture Museum, Hubei Province
This rare piece was made from a single antler, from
which it takes its pointed shape. 1 Three dragons are
carved in the round, their snakelike bodies twisting
together into a spiral as each bites the body of
another. Each deeply carved figure in the composition
is mutually independent, secured to the others
at the points of dramatic contact: the two larger
dragons grip each other with their front legs; having
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,
then at least periodically, and as early as remote
antiquity.
The sculpture was discovered in the northern
chamber of Tomb 2 at Baoshan, preserved in a bamboo
casket that contained several items for personal
adornment, including a wig, four jade and bone
ornaments, and a tiny sculpture of mythical animals
carved from a root. The antler sculpture likely
served a similar function and was perhaps worn on
a hat or in the hair. AT
i Excavated in 1987; published: Hubei 1991,1:261,
fig. 174.2; 2: pi. 87.1.
338 CHU AND OTHER CULTURES