Western Han period, late second - early first century BC
Inlaid Bronze and related material, 1991
This simple tubular fitting is lavishly inlaid in gold and silver with a huge menagerie of recognizable animals, as well as more imaginative spirit figures. It records auspicious omens (xiangrui) directly identifiable with many of these animals and figures who act as intermediaries and means of communication between heaven and earth - a belief widely held in the Western Han period.