{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[{"id":2033402,"period":"Western Han"},{"id":2033450,"period":"Warring States"}],"creditline":"Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund","caption":"Chinese, Eastern Zhou dynasty, mid Warring States period (ca. 470–221 BCE) to early Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE), Sword-bearer lamp, 4th–2nd century BCE. Bronze with cast and engraved designs; 33.8 × 13.5 × 13 cm, 10.1 lb, 28.5 cm (h. to top of head approximately). Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (2003-29)","cultureterms":[{"id":2033355,"culture":"Chinese"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2054791,"term":"sculpture","aatid":300047090,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2033355,"term":"Chinese","aatid":300018322,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2088273,"term":"man","aatid":300025928,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2055657,"term":"figures (representations)","aatid":300189808,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2055098,"term":"bronzes","aatid":300047333,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2033402,"term":"Western Han","aatid":300018391,"termtype":"Period / Style"},{"id":2033450,"term":"Warring States","aatid":300018378,"termtype":"Period / Style"},{"id":2050144,"term":"sword","aatid":300037048,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2058680,"term":"light green","aatid":300128475,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2129355,"term":"mask (costume)","aatid":300138758,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2070903,"term":"lamps (lighting devices)","aatid":300037592,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2080462,"term":"tombs","aatid":300005926,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2162099,"term":"bronze","aatid":300010957,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2152740,"term":"casting (process)","aatid":300053104,"termtype":"Techniques"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: Asia, China","code":"Place made","continent":"Asia","subcontinent":null,"country":"China","region":null,"state":null,"city":null,"county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":null,"locus":null,"river":null,"excavation":null,"geoname":"http://www.geonames.org/1814991/people-s-republic-of-china.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"28.50"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"33.80"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"13.50"},{"element":"Overall","type":"diam.","units":"centimeters","dimension":"13.00"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Weight","units":"kilograms","dimension":"4.58"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"2003-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[],"datecomputed":-250,"signed":null,"restrictions":null,"classification":"Metal","packages":[{"packageid":197269,"name":"web_highlights -revised 2021"},{"packageid":181753,"name":"CRS_2020_ART575/EAS571_04_09"},{"packageid":206417,"name":"image_descriptions_top250"},{"packageid":278831,"name":"10282025-DAY1-ONVIEW"},{"packageid":208216,"name":"Gallery_06-Orientation"},{"packageid":267343,"name":"Web_CA_2025_Asian"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[{"id":2070903,"classification":"lamps (lighting devices)"},{"id":2055098,"classification":"bronzes"},{"id":2054791,"classification":"sculpture"}],"exhibitions":[{"exhibitionid":961,"citation":"An Educated Eye: The Princeton University Art Museum Collection (Friday, February 22, 2008 - Sunday, June 15, 2008)","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2008-02-22","enddate":"2008-06-15","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/961"},{"exhibitionid":7,"citation":"Recarving China's Past: The Art, Archaeology and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines' March 5 – June 26, 2005","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2005-03-05","enddate":"2005-06-26","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/7"}],"cultures":[{"id":13592,"culture":"Chinese","alphasort":"Chinese","begindate":0,"enddate":0,"displayculture":"Chinese","displaydate":null}],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2003-29_LFT"],"displaytitle":"Sword-bearer lamp","displayculture":"Chinese","displaymaker":null,"captionhtml":"Chinese, Eastern Zhou dynasty, mid Warring States period (ca. 470–221 BCE) to early Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE), <i>Sword-bearer lamp</i>, 4th–2nd century BCE. Bronze with cast and engraved designs; 33.8 × 13.5 × 13 cm, 10.1 lb, 28.5 cm (h. to top of head approximately). Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (2003-29)","displaydate":"4th–2nd century BCE","medium":"Bronze with cast and engraved designs","media":[{"id":2142,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2003-29_DET1","isprimary":0,"rank":3,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":2143,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2003-29_DET2","isprimary":0,"rank":4,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":2144,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2003-29_DET3","isprimary":0,"rank":5,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":2145,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2003-29_DET4","isprimary":0,"rank":6,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":2146,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2003-29_DET5","isprimary":0,"rank":7,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":2147,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2003-29_LFT","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":2148,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2003-29_RGT","isprimary":0,"rank":2,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"}],"displayperiod":"Eastern Zhou dynasty, 770–256 BCE | mid Warring States period (ca. 470–221 BCE) to early Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE), ca. 470–221 BCE","extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"Cary Y. Liu, et al. <em>Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology and Architecture of the \"Wu Family Shrines\"</em>, (Princeton University Art Museum, 2005)","citation":"Cary Y. Liu, et al. <em>Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology and Architecture of the \"Wu Family Shrines\"</em>, (Princeton University Art Museum, 2005), catalogue entry essays by Lai Guolong, Anthony Barbieri-Low, and Albert Dien, p. 222–37","date":2005,"id":8331,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/254152310"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 7 (iilus.)","date":2007,"id":474,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/191864564"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2003,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 63 (2004): p. 101-141.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2003,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 63 (2004): p. 101-141., pp. 130–131 (illus.)","date":2004,"id":1822,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774848"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[{"id":12503,"period":"Eastern Zhou dynasty","alphasort":"Eastern Zhou","begindate":-770,"enddate":-256,"displayperiod":"Eastern Zhou dynasty, 770–256 BCE","displaydate":"770–256 BCE"},{"id":12505,"period":"Warring States period","alphasort":"Warring States period","begindate":-470,"enddate":-221,"displayperiod":"mid Warring States period (ca. 470–221 BCE) to early Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE), ca. 470–221 BCE","displaydate":"ca. 470–221 BCE"}],"department":"Asian Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199319,"term":"Asian Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"1000 B.C.-A.D 1","dateend":-100,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Sword-bearer lamp","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"2003-29","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"<span lang=\"EN\"></span><p><font color=\"#7030a0\">&nbsp;–2002&nbsp;Lam &amp; Co.,&nbsp; Chinese Antiques (Hong Kong), sold to J. J. Lally &amp; Co. (New York, NY), 2002.<br>2002–2003&nbsp;J. J. Lally &amp; Co. (New York, NY), sold to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2003.<br></font></p>","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"<P>Lamps in the form of attendants or fantastic winged beasts have been found in Eastern Zhou (770-256&nbsp;B.C.) and early Western Han burial sites. Such lamps may have been used to provide light during burial rituals, to guide the deceased’s soul to the afterlife, or to embody the soul in the form of an eternal flame during funerary ceremonies.</P>\r\nThis lamp was cast in multiple pours using a piece-mold technique. The body and head were cast in three successive pours, making use of different alloy compositions to achieve a polychromatic effect. The straps under the chin, knot at the waist, and sword were cast separately, then cast in place, while the lamp dish was pinned in place at the figure’s clasped hands.</P></SPAN>","remarks":"Asian relabeling July 2014"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"This northern Chinese bronze lamp features a soldier holding a dish-shaped pan above his head, a long sword tucked into his belt sash. The soldier’s ears are pierced with plug ornaments, and his hair is partially covered with a headdress tied under his chin. Extensive technical analysis conducted on this object since it entered the Museum’s collections has revealed that the lamp was not cast in one piece but rather was created through a succession of pours, allowing the artist to use different metal alloy compositions to achieve a polychromatic effect. In China, lamps like this have been found in the tombs of late Bronze Age elites and may have been intended for use in funerary ceremonies or to light the deceased’s journey in the afterlife.\n","remarks":"Sword_Bearer_Lamp_FA.pdf - Day 1 Installation"}],"datebegin":-399,"sortnumber":"2003   29","published_date":"2026-04-09 02:00:52.944854","objectid":41786,"dimensions":"h. 33.8 cm., w. 13.5 cm., diam. dish 13.0 cm, 10.1 lb. (13 5/16, 5 5/16, 5 1/8 in., 4.6 kg)\r\nh. to top of head approximately: 28.5 cm. (11 1/4 in.)","on_view":true}