Ming dynasty (AD 1368-1644)
Weight 466. g
Excavated at the Wang Bolu tomb, Xun County, Henan Province, 1985

These spring-shaped armlets become thinner at their ends. They are formed from spiralling coils that can be freely stretched, allowing the position of the open ends to be moved. These thin and flat strands of the armlets are entirely undecorated.

Bichuan armlets are also known as tiaotuo armlets (there are two different names for tiaotuo armlets with different tiao characters跳脱and条脱) They are made by hammering strands of gold and silver flat, and then winding these strands into a coiled armlet or bracelet. They have at least three coils, some with five, eight or over ten. Given that a human arm becomes thinner towards the wrist, the coils are arranged in decreasing size order. The two ends of the armlet are made of fixed gold and silver strands, but the intervals between them can be loosened or tightened. Gold armlets were already in use during the Shang dynasty.