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Wine Retriever

China

Not on view

This extraordinary vessel was unearthed from the kitchen quarter of a princely tomb. It is the most lavishly decorated example of its kind ever discovered. A bird, which has a hole in its back, sits on a tube connected to a hollow container, which has a hole in its bottom, implying that this object functioned as a siphon. Experiments reveal that liquid (wine) could be drawn upward from the container and would not drain away if the hole on the bird’s back was covered with a thumb. Thus, the retriever worked more efficiently than a scooper or a ladle to convey wine into a cup.

Wine Retriever, Gilt bronze inlaid with gold, silver, and gemstones, China

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