On July 14, 1956, several patients of the Zutangshan Mental Hospital went to HongJuesi Pagoda on the Niushoushan Mountain. One of them sat down on the ground and stamped his feet against the floor, and then suddenly found that the sound from the ground resounded just he was like stepping on a cover of drains. After hearing this, people were sent for reconnaissance, discovering a round hole in the center of ground floor. The gold gilt Tibetan Buddhist pagoda was excavated there; it is 35 cm high and caved with lions, deer and Chinese dragons.
There are four little doors on the pagoda, and inside are Buddha statues. Lots of pearls, precious stones, crystals, bowlders and bone ash are found inside base of the pagoda. The pagoda is set on a caved base made of red sandstone, and four celadon jars are placed on it. The relic is made up of three parts: the gold gild pagoda, the red sandstone base and four jars.
Silver-inlaid bronze lamp in the shape of an ox
Eastern Han dynasty (25–220)
Excavated in Hanjiang County, Jiangsu Province in 1980.
The lamp is supported on the back of an ox, the two connected by a chimney which rises in a broad curve from the animal’s lowered head through the lamp’s dome. The movable round base of the lamp is equipped with a handle, and the latticed cylindrical shade with two rings, by means of which the ventilation, the intensity and angle of the lighting can be adjusted. Water is placed in the hollow belly of the ox. When the lamp is burning, smoke rises and travels through the chimney to the belly where it dissipates in the water. The problem of pollution, to which this ingenious design provides a solution, is as relevant today as it was in the Han dynasty. The bronze surface is decorated with a silver inlay design, in the pattern of flowing clouds and spiral shell.
The skill of silver inlay first began in the Spring and Autumn period. First, embed wire or piece made of gold, silver or other kind of metal on the bronze to compose designs. Then use whetstone to polish the surface. This technique was blooming in Warring States period, dieing at the Eastern Han dynasty. But this collection gives us an opportunity to appreciate the outstanding skills of the Eastern Han dynasty.
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