CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

158
Two gold tree appliques
Height 13.5 (5 3 A) and 11.5 (4'A),
thickness 0.4 (V»)
Tang Dynasty, eighth century CE
From Guojiatan, near Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
Xi'an Municipal Institute of Archaeology and
Preservation of Cultural Relics, Shaanxi Province
Houston and San Francisco only
These two miniature trees worked in filigree on
gold sheet 1 form part of a set of nine pieces discovered
during the building of the international
airport at Xianyang, near Xi'an, in December 19/1. 2
While they are likely to have come from a tomb,
unfortunately no report of the circumstances of
their discovery has been or is likely to be published.
The set includes the two trees exhibited here, three
phoenixes, an outstretched dragon, and three ducks
with wings displayed. 3 All the objects are on a small
scale — the dragon only 9.4 centimeters long, the
phoenixes 6.6 centimeters high, and the ducks a
mere 3.3 centimeters high. The trees are described
in considerable detail, from the roots and trunk, to
the branches and flowers or fruit with a different
configuration of the branches in each. On both,
a vine twists around the trunk. The leaves are arranged
in rosettes, with a fruit or flower originally
inlaid with precious stone — one piece of green
458 | EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA