Spring and Autumn makeup mirror with the design of rectangular pot with lotus petal cover and crane decoration, wine vessel

Cultural relics card: 

Rectangular pot with lotus petal cover and crane decoration is a bronze wine or water container made in the middle of the Spring and Autumn period. It is one of the first batches of cultural relics prohibited from going abroad for exhibition in China. It was unearthed from the Zheng Gong(the King of the Zheng State) tomb at Lijia Lou, Xinzheng, Henan Province in 1923. The main body of this vessel is a rectangular pot popular since the late Western Zhou dynasty. It has a cover, ears and ring feet, and the center of gravity is in the lower abdomen.Various additional decorations which spread on the body and bottom of the vessel have not only an extremely magnificent decorative effect but also reflect the important changes in the aesthetic concept of bronze art in the Spring and Autumn period.

In the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the pot was a kind of bronze wine vessel and one of the important types of bronze ritual vessels. The ancients used this vessel to worship gods and ancestors and entertain guests. As a kind of bronze vessel with great vitality in the bronze age, the types of copper pots had been constantly changing and developing. The rectangular pot with lotus petal cover and crane decoration is an unparalleled treasure which forms a connecting link between the preceding and the following in the bronze age. It is also one of the earliest collections of Henan Museum.

Mr. Guo Moruo once praised the crane on the rectangular pot with lotus petal cover and crane decoration. The crane soared its wings and broke through the Hongmeng(primordial world) of ancient times. It is full of ambition and arrogance, and wants to fly higher and farther. It is a symbol of the spirit of the times. We take this moral into creation, hoping to spread this spirit. May everyone not forget their original heart and look for the future.