Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1894: Chapter 1797: Changxin Palace Lantern

Changxin Palace Lantern, is the most typical representative of gilt bronze lamps of the Han Dynasty, and is quite famous among bronze artifacts.

The palace lantern is entirely gilt, depicting a palace maid kneeling with hands holding the lamp, her expression serene and elegant.

This lamp deviates from the mysterious and substantial nature of previous bronze utensils, its entire shape and style appearing extremely unfettered and light, making it a very practical and aesthetically pleasing lamp treasure.

Ingeniously designed, the palace maid holds the lantern in one hand, while the other arm is extended as if shielding from wind, but the shielding is actually a conduit for absorbing oil smoke.

The body of the bronze statue of the maid is hollow, with the hollow right arm and sleeve forming the bronze lamp shade that can freely open and close, allowing the smoke dust to directly deposit inside the maid’s body, thus preventing excessive smoke from dispersing into the room during use.

Such a design prevents air pollution and carries aesthetic value, reflecting the amazing wisdom and advanced consciousness of the ancient Huaxia people. To have such unique craftsmanship in the BC era is truly rare.

Changxin Palace Lantern is hailed as Huaxia’s first lantern because it was placed in Empress Dowager Dou’s Changxin Palace, but Huo Sining knows that the lamp was not initially placed in Empress Dowager Dou’s chamber, but belonged to Emperor Wu of Han’s sister Princess Pingyang, also known as Princess Yangxin.

Although there is an inscription on the upper lamp seat base perimeter of the Changxin Palace Lantern that reads ”Changxin bathes, holds one and half a liter, weighs six jin, one hundred and eighty-nine, now the internal person sleeps,” careful observation reveals the inscription is scribbled, clearly added later, indicating that Changxin Bath was not the original owner of the lamp.

Instead, on the other six parts of the lamp body, the inscription ”Yangxin Family” is clearly engraved, showing it was crafted at the time of the lamp’s initial creation, proving the lamp originally belonged to Princess Yangxin’s family.

However, this isn’t the first time Huo Sining has seen this lamp; in fact, a similar one is preserved at the Jibei Museum.

This is why Huo Sining knew so much about the Changxin Palace Lantern’s details before even picking up the lamp.

But the palace lantern at Jibei Museum is symmetrically opposite to the one before her; at Jibei, the maid holds the lamp with her left hand while her right arm is extended as a shield, yet the one Semiya presented holds the lamp with her right hand while her left sleeve stretches to shield from wind.

Huo Sining picked up the palace lantern, rotating it in all directions, indeed finding the lamp identical in shape and inscription details to the Huaxia domestic Changxin Palace Lantern.

Under the Heavenly Eye, the dense purple aura of the palace lantern reached a deep purple-black level, showing its historical profundity, marking it as one of the more significant antiques among those Huo Sining encountered.

If this item is genuine, it suggests that the domestic Changxin Palace Lantern was not originally a single piece, but a pair.

Huo Sining suddenly recalled that the historical records of Changxin Palace Lantern indeed show that after Dou Wan Tomb was discovered in the summer of 1968, national archaeological experts embarked on excavation of this Han tomb. On opening Dou Wan’s tomb main chamber, the Changxin Palace Lantern was discovered inside; however, at that time, the main chamber’s Changxin Palace Lantern was found shattered, with maid’s head, lamp plate, lamp cover, and parts scattered, pieces brought back by the experts were studied and restored.

In fact, the answer is when Huo Sining first saw the Changxin Palace Lantern, it felt amiss. Ancient Huaxia people emphasized symmetry in creations, as reflected in many ancient buildings in polygonal shapes, or stone statues such as gate stone lions, which are presented pair by pair to symbolize good fortune and auspiciousness.

However, only a solitary Changxin Palace Lantern was found in Dou Wan’s tomb, which obviously contradicted ancient aesthetics and customs, especially for funerary objects, where single lamps are hardly seen due to negative implications and responsible tomb personnel would typically avoid such oversight or error.

Yet, at that time, the archaeological team indeed only found fragments of one Changxin Palace Lantern in the chamber, leading those collecting archaeological data to assume there was only one lamp in the chamber originally.

Now, seeing this lamp completely symmetrical with the Jibei Museum’s Changxin Palace Lantern, Huo Sining is almost certain that this Changxin Palace Lantern together with the one from Jibei Museum must be a pair, likely buried together beneath Dou Wan’s coffin.

But why did the archaeological team only find one lamp, moreover only fragments of it, and how this one traveled overseas ending in Semiya’s possession, remains unknown to Huo Sining.

However, she reasoned, such circumstances likely stem from two possibilities.

One possibility is that prior to the archaeological team entering Dou Wan’s tomb, the main tomb chamber had already been visited by tomb robbers, who accidentally overturned one Changxin Palace Lantern causing it to shatter. To avoid trouble, they took the intact lamp while leaving the shattered fragments behind until the archaeological team later discovered them.

Another possibility is there was an issue among the archaeological staff at the time, where someone driven by profit entered the main chamber before their teammates paid attention and sneakily carried off the intact Changxin Palace Lantern, leaving fragments from another lamp shattered due to main chamber collapse.

Regardless of the situation, one conclusion can be drawn — this lamp belongs to the items from Dou Wan Tomb.

This Changxin Palace Lantern is complete in form, with no signs of restoration, showing no trace of damage or scratches, its color vibrant and patina thick, appearing superior to the one preserved at Jibei Museum, unmistakably a genuine heritage piece.

Huo Sining is certain that when her private collection gallery opens in the future, solely this Changxin Palace Lantern will attract throngs of enthusiasts, likely breaking the doors with bronze artifact collectors.

Beyond this, the Silver Gilt Amitabha Buddha, Agate Gold Bowl, and Winged Good Deeds Gold Crown are all very well preserved, items Huo Sining has never seen in such intact condition in any antique appreciation catalog.

It seems clear these items likely dissipated abroad early, definitely before the ”Destroy the Four Olds,” otherwise their condition could not remain so pristine.