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Lamp with Sixteen Branches

Eastern Han dynasty (25–220)

Not on view

This lamp, one of the most elaborate Han examples of its kind, takes the shape of a tree with sixteen branches. The branches follow two prototypes: one has a crane, and the other, a winged immortal riding a dragon. A gigantic turtle in the lowermost basin carries the trunk on its back. (Both the turtle and the crane were Han symbols of longevity.) Three figures and twenty-five animals populate the mountain-shaped base, whose surface is painted with clouds. The clouds suggest a place high above the human world, thus transforming the lamp into a land of immortality—appropriate imagery for a funerary object such as this.

Lamp with Sixteen Branches, Earthenware with pigment, China — Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

东汉彩绘陶多枝灯

Title: Lamp with Sixteen Branches

Period: Eastern Han dynasty (25–220)

Culture: China

Medium: Earthenware with pigment

Dimensions: H. 43 5/16 in. (110 cm); Diam. of base: 14 3/4–15 3/8 in. (37.5–39 cm)

Classification: Ceramics

Credit Line: Lent by Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

Accession Number: SL.1.2017.29.1a–y

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Asian Art at The Met

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world.