0012 - Gilt bronze figure of a palace girl holding a dark lantern. Held in ...Front

Gilt bronze figure of a palace girl holding a dark lantern. Held in the hands of the squatting palace, girl, the lantern is so ingeniously designed that the hood running into the sleeve of the girl conceals a funnel which allows the lampblack to be collected in the cavity of the figure, thereby preventing it from polluting the air in the room. The parts of the lantern are detachable for easy for easy cleaning while the movable shade and base make it possible to control the intensity and the shaft of the light at will. Early Western Han (206 B.C.-A.D. 24). H. 48 cm. Unearthed in 1968 from the tomb of Liu Sheng's wife Tou Wan.