Asset Overview
Dated Western Jin period (3rd century). Yue kiln. Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Gushan Branch. Hangzhou, China.
Like other jars from the same area and time period, this piece of object is characterized by a cover shaped into a building complex which evokes the Han ritual architecture "Hall of Light (*mingtang*)." Four (one missing) small corner pavilions surround the central tower, which has three stories as suggested by the three layers of eaves. The acroteria (corner ornaments of roof ridges) are prominent.
The tower and pavilions are enclosed by four pairs of watchtowers (*que*) at the four cardinal directions. The eight mustache-looking objects springing from atop the watchtowers are perhaps representations of brackets, though they have been rendered in a curious way with scroll-like ends and a curving body not repeated elsewhere.