The entry concerns a group of silver vessels of “foreign” origin found in China. Designed as a bowl on a foot, with a lid. Their characteristic feature is the lobed petals. In the literature they are referred to as boxes.
[c], silver box S02 of Nanyue Han tomb; [d], bottom of Nanyue box [2nd C BCE, Western Han Dynasty];
[e], silver box S03 of Chaohu Han tomb; [f], lobed pattern of Chaohu box;
[g], silver box S04 from Zibo Han tomb; [h], soldering marks on the bottom [2nd C BCE];
[i], silver box S05 from Xixin, 4th–3rd centuries BC; [j], silver box S06 from Xixin;
[k] tinned bronze box 01 and [l] 02 from Shizhaishan Han tomb [2nd C BCE, Western Han Dynasty]
After Yan Liu, Achaemenid Style Silverware and Gold Ornaments
Photo source http://politics.people.com.cn
Silver, partly gilded box in Persian style unearthed in China, in the tomb of the Nanyue king, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province’.
2nd century BCE
Height: 12.1cm
Belly Diameter: 14.8cm
Weight: 572.6g
Dates back to the Western Han Dynasty, was discovered in the tomb of Zhao Mo, the second king of the Nanyue Kingdom during the early Western Han Dynasty (202 BC – 8 AD). Zhao Mo, also known as Emperor Wen, reigned from 137 to 122 BCE.
It was found in the main coffin chamber containing a substance that looked like medicinal pills.
Judging from its shape and ornamental design, which are greatly different from those of traditional Chinese silverware, and by chemical analysis of the pills, archaeologists believed that it is a product of Persia and its contents are a kind of Arabian medicine.
H. of a lid 10.5 cm
Photo source https://kknews.cc/zh-cn/culture/25o5n3g.html
Photo source http://politics.people.com.cn
Photo ©Zhangmoon618 https://commons.wikimedia.org
- ELLEN JOHNSTON LAING, Recent Finds of Western-Related Glassware, Textiles, and Metalwork in Central Asia and China
- Yan Liu, Achaemenid Style Silverware and Gold Ornaments: a Taste for Luxury in Early Imperial China https://www.academia.edu
- Li Ling, On the Silver Multi-lobed Dou-Stemmed Bowl Unearthed from the Tomb of the WarringStates Period at Xixin——Also on the Similar Artifacts Unearthed in China, 2014 http://wenxueyuan.ruc.edu.cn
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