Quatrefoil plaque of the Four Directions

Gilt bronze ornamental plaques with engraved decoration and silvered backgrounds were used as tomb decoration in western China during the Eastern Han dynasty (24-220 CE). This quatrefoil plaque is part of a rare set of twenty-six gilt plaques owned by the museum that is similar to works retrieved from Han tombs in Szechwan and Kansu provinces. The quatrefoil motif evolved during the Warring States (475-221 BCE) and Western Han dynasty (206 BCE - 8 CE) as an auspicious symbol for the four cardinal directions. Like the yin-yang motif, it served as a type of emblem for universal order. Though difficult to read due to corrosion, this plaque is inscribed in linear style with a dragon at one end and a phoenix at the other. These mythological animals represent the directions east and south respectively. Another phoenix and dragon pair dissolved amidst scroll motifs appears in the petal panels at the median. The four animals (ssu-ling) represented by the green dragon of the east, red bird of the south, white tiger of the west, and black, snake-entwined tortoise of the north do not always appear together in a formal manner during Han. This plaque, with its pair of dragons and phoenixes, both extremely auspicious animals, would have been adequate to protect the tomb and ensure prosperity in the afterlife.