Off to Xian 5 (Xian Museum 「西安博物院」2)

Another part of the collection at the Xian Museum concerns not stones, tiles, bricks and pottery but metal ware and ornaments and calligraphy.

A gold coin of the Holy Roman Empire centred on Constantinople (present day Instanbul)  found in Xian in1980's during the period of North Wei (AD 386-534). Who'd expect to find some such coins in Xian nearly 17 centuries ago !

Some gold coins in the Western Han period  (206 BCE -- 8 AD ) even earlier than those in the above photo. These were found in 1999, probably something brought in by the Silk Road merchants into China: Chinese coins were seldom minted in a round shape.

Another pile of coins in the Western Han found in 陝西.

Various copper or gold metalware of the Western Han period

A golden lamb-shape oil lamp of the Western Han period found in 陝西鳳翔縣

A flattened bronze flask of the Western Han period collected in 1977

A copper jewellery casket of the Western Han dynasty found in 2003 at the Yanta District 芙蓉園 of Xian



A row of mat weights  (席鎮) in different form: dragon, birds and frogs

This is a snake-body animal head chimera Tang Dynasty mat weight for holding down one of the corners of mats (席鎮)

Another one

More mat corner weights

Another one

A Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD)  partitioned plate

A Tang Dynasty plate depicting a noble lady playing the lute found in Xian in 1968

Another Tang dynasty bowl with floral and bird pattern found in 1977

A Tang dynasty saucer for tea cups with floral pattern found in 1977

A Tang dynasty dou for collecting scraps (渣斗)

A Tang dynasty gold chain

To the left an Eastern Zhou auspicious animal figure (瑞獸) found in Shenxi and to the right a Tang dynasty dragon found in 1979

A Ming dynasty jade charm (玉辟邪)  to the left and a Ming dynasty Qilin (麒麟) found in Xian in 1972. 辟邪 is a mythical beast like a deer with two horns with a long tail and is otherwise known as 貔貅, with a big mouth but without anus and therefore it is believed that it will help its owner to accumulate wealth and good fortune. A Qilin has the head of a dragon, the body of horse,, the temperament of a deer, the tail of an ox, with hairs of five colors on its back and a belly of yellow hair. If it has one horn it's called Qi (麒) and if it has no horn, it's called lin (麟). It is believed to be able to throw flames from its mouth, and howl like thunder and is a symbol of peace and goodness and would appear only when a saintly person is born.

A Western Han square flask in gold and silver (錯金銀鈁) found at 蓮湖區南小巷 in 1964.



A closer view of some of the hooked cloud-lines on its surface

Children playing on the smooth marble surface at the entrance hall with their mother

The introduction to the calligraphy exhibition on the first floor exhibition hall filled with different ways of writing the
Chinese character "blessing" (福) by a hundred different caligraphers in different
calligraphic styles



The first four exhibits

Some of the characters

More "blessings"

Even more "blessings".

Even more

A closer view of some of the "blessings"

This one is by 蔣軍

This blessing is from 李德君

This one is by 越安志

This one is by (?)

This one is by 邢戈

This one is by 楊建忠

This one is by 任耀宇

This one by 郭德雙

This one is by 楊文業

This is really an eye opener for me. I never knew the character could be written in so many different styles !

(To be con'td)