CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

155
Parcel-gilt silver pan dish with shell
Height 1.5 ('/z), diam. 22.5 (8 7 / 8 )
Tang Dynasty, first half of the eight century CE
(c. 713-755)
From the Hejiacun hoard, southern suburbs of
Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
Shaanxi History Museum, Xi'an
Houston and San Francisco only
This dish, 1 like cat. 154, is one of a set of five pan
from the Hejiacun hoard. Two of the dishes take the
form of a mallow flower with six lobes; one is decorated
with the image of a phoenix with its head
turned back, displaying its wings and florid tail; the
other shows a bear walking on all fours and looking
upward. The form of this dish and the remaining
pan are inspired by fruit, respectively, a double
peach and a single peach apparently split in half.
The latter features a tortoise, seen from above so
that its upper carapace is completely visible, and
the head, tail, and four feet project around it. In
this piece, a pair of animals circle each other warily,
453 | HEJIACUN AND OTHER DISCOVERIES