Changxin palace lamp: ingenious design from 2,000 years ago

What did the aristocracy during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) use for illumination in the bathroom?

Check out the Changxin palace lamp, unearthed from the tomb of Dou Wan, wife of King Jing of the Zhongshan state in 1968. It stunned the world with its extraordinary integration of practicality and decorativeness. The 48-centimeter-high gilded-bronze lamp is designed in the shape of a kneeling maid holding a lamp. Smoke from the lit-up candle rises up through her hollow sleeve and is finally collected in her body.

The entire lamp can be dismantled into several parts, which makes it easy to clean the soot. How clever that the lamp was designed to avoid air pollution!

Now in the collection of the Hebei Museum, the treasure is inscribed with 65 characters, telling the story of its owner about 2,000 years ago.