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Fashion of the ethnic groups and minorities | Furniture Silk and Clothing Finery and Adornments Minority Fashion Silk painting and embroidery Folk Art Money, Coins, and Bills Seals 5 Treasures of the Study Weapons | |
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] | The four flounder-shaped objects were just ornaments for a horse' headgear the Spring and Autumn period 春秋. |
 | A warrior of bronze. His eagle beak shaped tinhat is a proof of the non-Chinese origin of this object the Warring States period 戰國. It is indeed a relict of the Saka culture of Xinjiang. |
 | This kind of tiger-shaped object called hufu 虎符 "tiger symbol" served the Warring States period on as a document of the owner' enfeoffment or official authority. In old times, bamboo was used for a documentation and then broken or cut in two pieces. One half stayed in the palace's archives, the other was handed to the new baron or general. |
 | the Warring States period on, the art to inlay gold and silver made a great improvement. This sleeping calf or cow has a bronze core and is decorated with silver ornaments. |
 | The coin shape we know today is the round one with the quadrangular hole in the middle. Buildings and art objects with this shape symbolize earth (quadranguar, the feet) and the heaven (round, the head). Even the word for "round", yuan 圓, is still today similar to the word for "coin" in Chinese (Yuan, abbreviated to 元), Japanese (Yen) and Korean (Wŏn). The two other kinds of coins during the Warring States period were a knife-shaped coin (dao 刀), a type shaped like a cowry shell (bei 貝) and a spade-shaped one (bu 布). See more on the money page. |
 | Being the stand for a screen or a candle, this fabulous animal is a mixture of a rhino and a tiger. It is inlaid with gold and silver. |
 | Inlaid with gold and silver and showing fighting animals, this backside of a bronze mirror is a wonderful work of the late Warring States period. |
 Only 104 cm tall, this bronze coach the Qin Dynasty 秦 is a perfection of early goldsmithry. The main part of the chariot, the horses and the driver are cast of bronze and painted with different colors and worked with many different technics like soldering, inlaying, embossing, chiseling and filing. | |
 | Inlaid with gold and with red stones, two leopards the Han Dynasty |