On view
Orientation Gallery
Susan & John Diekman Gallery
Susan & John Diekman Gallery
Sword-bearer lamp,
4th–2nd century BCE
Chinese
mid Warring States period to early Western Han dynasty, ca. 470–221 BCE
2003-29
Lamps in the form of attendants or fantastic winged beasts have been found in Eastern Zhou (770-256 B.C.) and early Western Han burial sites. Such lamps may have been used to provide light during burial rituals, to guide the deceased’s soul to the afterlife, or to embody the soul in the form of an eternal flame during funerary ceremonies.
This lamp was cast in multiple pours using a piece-mold technique. The body and head were cast in three successive pours, making use of different alloy compositions to achieve a polychromatic effect. The straps under the chin, knot at the waist, and sword were cast separately, then cast in place, while the lamp dish was pinned in place at the figure’s clasped hands.More About This Object
Information
Title
Sword-bearer lamp
Dates
4th–2nd century BCE
Medium
Bronze with cast and engraved designs
Dimensions
h. 33.8 cm., w. 13.5 cm., diam. dish 13.0 cm, 10.1 lb. (13 5/16, 5 5/16, 5 1/8 in., 4.6 kg)
h. to top of head approximately: 28.5 cm. (11 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund
Object Number
2003-29
Place Made
Asia, China
Culture
Period
Materials
Techniques
Subject
–2002 Lam & Co., Chinese Antiques (Hong Kong), sold to J. J. Lally & Co. (New York, NY), 2002.
2002–2003 J. J. Lally & Co. (New York, NY), sold to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2003.
- "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2003," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 63 (2004): p. 101-141., p. 127
- Cary Y. Liu, et al. Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology and Architecture of the "Wu Family Shrines", (Princeton University Art Museum, 2005), Eileen Hsiang-ling Hsu, catalogue entry, cat. no. 64, p. 470–81
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 189 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 195
