Duck-shaped Glass Water Dropper
Mar 01,2023

In 1965, a well-preserved duck-shaped glass water dropper was excavated from the Tomb of Feng Sufu, an influential mandarin of the Northern Yan Dynasty, in Xiguanyingzi Town, Beipiao County-level City, Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province.  

This piece of glassware is long horizontally, with a mouth as flat as a duck’s on one end, a long neck, a round belly, a tapering long tail broken at the tip. Its body is gently curved and symmetrical in structure.  

Among the glassware excavated from the Tomb of Feng Sufu, it is the most complex in craftsmanship and the most distinctive in shape and decoration. The experts have determined it was a qiqi, a timepiece like hourglasses in ancient times. Its centre of balance is in the front, so it can remain stable only when its rear becomes heavier with the belly half filled with water. It is the only one piece of animal-shaped glassware that has been excavated in China.

The duck-shaped glass water dropper is made by the technique of blowing glass into certain shapes. Its decoration mainly consists of detailed patterns of glued glass. The procedure is completed in front of a glowing furnace without further refining, depending solely on the glass-blowing craftsmen’s inspiration and experience.

According to chemical analysis, it was made of soda-lime glass, which could not be produced in China at that time. It was likely to have been imported through the Grassland Silk Road.

Dragon City (presently Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province), the political centre of the Northern Yan Dynasty, was located on the edge of Eurasia. It maintained good diplomatic relations with neighbouring ethnic groups and tribes such as Rouran, Khitan, Kumoxi. These tribes travelled back and forth on the Grassland Silk Road and were thus the messengers and ambassadors of trade exchanges between them.

Therefore, this duck-shaped glass water dropper witnessed the historic role of Liaoning in the civilization communication between East and West.

News
Culture
Business
Videos
Faces
Special
Copyright © 2000 - 2023 www.lnd.com.cn All Rights Reserved.
辽公网安备 21010202000025号