CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

148
Jade beaker with bronze basin stand
Height (overall) 17.0 (6 5 /s), height of basin 5.0 (i7s),
diam. of basin 23.6 (9 'A)
Western Han Dynasty, second century BCE
From the tomb of the King of Nanyue at Xianggang,
Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
The Museum of the Western Han Tomb of the
Nanyue King, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
This complex object 1 is composed of a jade beaker
that stands within a shallow bronze basin with a
wide lip. The basin itself stands on three legs, each
consisting of a schematized face mounted on a
small animal-shaped leg; animals in relief decorate
the side of the basin between each pair of legs. An
interior flange braces the serpentine dragons that
support the beaker.
The jade object is composed of three parts that
can be disassembled: a beaker, a pedestal foot, and
a petaled flange inserted between the beaker and
its foot (fig. i). The beaker has a narrow tapering
form, and is decorated around the lip with a ring
of scroll design, below which are tiny projections
linked by C-shaped scrolls; small pointed petals
compose the lower border, and are repeated on
the pedestal, which has narrow moldings at the top
and at the foot, and on the flange, which is formed
of three large and three small alternating petals.
Gilded dragon-heads at the ends of slender silver
bodies grip the small petals in their mouths to
support the beaker within its basin.
The complex form, materials, and workmanship
of this object indicate its value. It may have been
intended to collect the dew left by the immortals;
an Early Han period text, the Huai nan zi, alludes to
such "dew basins":
When the burning-mirror sees the sun,
It ignites tinder and produces fire,
When the square receptacle sees the moon,
It moistens and produces water. 2
Square basins have not been found (although
precise matches between recovered objects and
430 EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA