Metal served to create very different objects, from adornments to weapons, coins, caskets, or just objects to put on a desk and to look at. The following list contains, in chronological order, metal items that are not in the main part made of silver and gold. In the section "Bronze vessels", we already introduced two vessels from the Qin and the Han dynasty that were not intended to be used for ancestor worship but for daily use. The four flounder-shaped objects were just ornaments for a horse' headgear from the Spring and Autumn period 春秋. A warrior of bronze. His eagle beak shaped tinhat is a proof of the non-Chinese origin of this object from the Warring States period 戰國. It is indeed a relict of the Saka culture of Xinjiang. This kind of tiger-shaped object called hufu 虎符 "tiger symbol" served from the Warring States period on as a document of the owner' enfeoffment or official authority. In old times, bamboo was used for a documentation and then broken or cut in two pieces. One half stayed in the palace's archives, the other was handed to the new baron or general. From the Warring States period on, the art to inlay gold and silver made a great improvement. This sleeping calf or cow has a bronze core and is decorated with silver ornaments. The coin shape we know today is the round one with the quadrangular hole in the middle. Buildings and art objects with this shape symbolize earth (quadranguar, the feet) and the heaven (round, the head). Even the word for "round", yuan 圓, is still today similar to the word for "coin" in Chinese (Yuan, abbreviated to 元), Japanese (Yen) and Korean (Wŏn). The two other kinds of coins during the Warring States period were a knife-shaped coin (dao 刀), a type shaped like a cowry shell (bei 貝) and a spade-shaped one (bu 布). See more on the money page. Being the stand for a screen or a candle, this fabulous animal is a mixture of a rhino and a tiger. It is inlaid with gold and silver. Inlaid with gold and silver and showing fighting animals, this backside of a bronze mirror is a wonderful work of the late Warring States period. Only 104 cm tall, this bronze coach from the Qin Dynasty 秦 is a perfection of early goldsmithry. The main part of the chariot, the horses and the driver are cast of bronze and painted with different colors and worked with many different technics like soldering, inlaying, embossing, chiseling and filing. Inlaid with gold and with red stones, two leopards from the Han Dynasty 漢. This belt buckle from the Han dynasty is inlaid with turquois stones. The border has the shape of a herd of monkeys. A storing vessel, standing on a small round platform. This type of vessel called zun 樽 was only in use during Han times, and it is not shure if its only purpose was to contain wine. No dragons or Taotie ornament the surface of the golden box. Designing human faces is a new expression of Han Dynasty art. Faces and movements became more real then in older times. Man is now the center of art, not the gods and ancestors or fabulous animals. This 84 cm tall wonderful tool of the Changxin Palace 長信宮 shows a girl holding a lamp or a sublimation tool for alchemist material. An other wonderul piece of Han Dynasty's lamps has the shape of a bull, inlaid with silver. From the bull's head to the top of the lamp, a handle stretches (46 cm tall). The surface is very smooth. In spite of his weighty body, the piggy tail of the bull make him a bit funny. A small embossed horse from the Han Dynasty. Cast of bronze, this amazing and very famous artwork shows a galopping horse balancing on a swallow. Only one piece of a whole cavalry company is this bronze cast warrior of the Han Dynasty. This ornament (a belt buckle or a brooch) of the Han Dynasty shows an unidentifiable animal with its head in the bushes. Parts of the object are already stained. A belt buckle with the shape of shepherds and a cow from the Han Dynasty. Goldened bronze, 15 cm long. An incense burner from the Han Dynasty. It has the shape of mythical mountain, inlaid with gold and silver stripes in the shape of dragons and decorated with many people and beasts (28 cm tall). This Pusa 菩薩 (Bodhisattva) is one of the first Buddhist art objects found in China. It was made in the Eastern Jin period 東晉. When Buddhism was introduced into China, it was first the upper class of the former-nomadic Northern Dynasties 北朝 that adopted the foreign religion. During the Northern Wei dynasty, these very handy Buddha images became very popular to put them on a family or house altar. This image from the short-lived Sui Dynasty 隋 shows a whole group like they were carved in the grottoes of Yungang 雲崗 and Longmen 龍門. The center is the sitting Buddha, to his left and his right two disciples. In front of them are two guardians. The whole gold-covered group is standing on a table whose feet have the shape of fierce animals. During the Tang Dynasty 唐, fat people were the ideal body type (just like in Europe during the 17th century). Accordingly, this Guanyin 觀音 image also gives her fat cheeks. Looking at the wall paintings in Dunhuang 敦煌, we see that also the floating bands around the body were very popular during the Tang Dynasty. Inlaid with mother-of-pearl, this Tang time mirror back side shows people sitting in a garden, playing lute and drinking wine. This hairpin from the Five Dynasties 五代 has the shape of a butterfly with jade wings and very light, almost floating and always moving pendants. One of the famous men going to India to take the sutras to China and to translate them later into Chinese was the patriarch Huineng 慧能. This Northern Song 北宋 time bronze statue shows him in a meditating position. This big gloriole around the Pusa-Bodhisattva's head from the Northern Song Dynasty shows Indian and Tibetian influence. The Liao Dynasty 遼 was founded by the nomadic Khitan people. They quickly adopted Chinese culture and religion. A meditating Guanyin image shows how exactly they copied Chinese style art objects. Especially during the Yuan time 元, when the Mongols governed China, their trust in Lamaism is reflected in the shape of the Buddha images. They become more crude like the left example or more overloaded with accompanying glorioles and auras. A Tibetian style Manjusri from the Yuan time. Ming time 明 Guanyin statuettes are mostly standing. The Guanyin is a female personification of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and thus not only a person meditating and contemplating, but also giving protection and help to the true believer. With the shape of flowers and butterflies, this Qing time 清 hairpin is covered with enamel, giving it different colors, mostly blue, a favorite color of emaille technique. An incense burner or hand warmer from the imperial palace in Peking. The cover is dotted with many holes to let out the incense odor. As a guard of the imperial palace, two lions flank the entrance of the Hall of the Highest Peace in Beijing. They look more like a kind of dog. The female lion is accompanied by its kid, the male one plays with a ball. Until the whole time of the Chinese Empire, the main task for the emperor, more even than to govern, was to worship his ancestors, the heaven and the earth. For this reason, ritual vessels had great importance until the end of the empire in 1911. Containing hot charcoal, the objective of this "bowl" was to serve as an ironing tool. It is not clear why the ironing area of this iron from Anhui is this small. Nomadic people lay great stress on the beauty of daily used articles like the Mongolian lighters on the left, ornamented with silver and inlaid with different stones. The Mongols adopted the Lamaist Buddhism from Tibet and established many Lamaist temples in their capital in Peking. Thus, a great part of their art object also shows Lamaist influence like this Qing time Tantra figure with a divine couple in embracement. This object is a water pipe from the late Qing time in Jiangsu province.