Shaanxi restores the bronze cash cow of the Eastern Han Dynasty

　　Xinhua News Agency, Xi'an, September 12 (Reporter Yang Yimiao) After more than two years of cleanup and protection by Shaanxi provincial cultural relics conservation workers, recently, a bronze cash cow of the Eastern Han Dynasty unearthed in Baoji City, Shaanxi Province was successfully restored.

　　This bronze cash cow was unearthed at the Guojiaya Cemetery in the west of Guojiaya Village, High-tech Zone, Baoji City.

From November 2017 to February 2018, in order to cooperate with the construction of the local school, the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and the Baoji City Institute of Archaeology jointly organized a team to excavate the cultural relics found on the construction site, and the cash cow was unearthed in a brick chamber tomb According to the tomb shape and unearthed artifacts, it is judged to be a tomb in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty.

　　The money tree is 110 cm high and consists of three parts: the main stem, the branches and leaves and the base.

The upper part of the base is a hollow cone-shaped body with a large upper part and a smaller lower part.

The trunk is divided into 5 sections, each section casts a Buddha statue.

Because the tomb was soaked in rain and silt, the cash cow was broken when it was unearthed, leaving only a residual height of 86 cm, with leaves and branches scattered around, making it very difficult to repair.

　　According to Song Junrong, deputy director of the Cultural Relics Conservation Research Office of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, the restoration of the money tree has gone through steps such as removal of rust, leaf classification, and defect repair.

The restored bronze trunk is criss-crossed with five layers of branches and leaves, decorated with phoenix birds, jade bi, monkeys, etc.

　　Tian Yaqi, a researcher at the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, said that the use of cash cows in tombs was mainly found in the southwestern region centered on Sichuan during the Han and Wei Dynasties. It is rare in the Qinling Mountains and the Central Plains.

This cash cow, composed of characters, animals, copper coins and many other elements, is exquisite in shape and complex in craftsmanship. It has witnessed the cultural exchanges between the two ends of the Qinling and Shu Roads about two thousand years ago.