Photo shows a gold pagoda in Tibetan style, which was left over from the Qing Dynasty.

    Gold and silver objects had their heyday during the Sui and Tang dynasties due to an unprecedented economic boom and increased communication between China and the rest of the world via the Silk Road. The imperial family of the Tang Dynasty, in particular, created a huge demand for things of gold and silver. Poet Wang Jian of the Tang wrote of a palace feast: "Five

Picture shows a gilded silver jar of the Tang Dynasty, which was unearthed at Xi'an.

Picture shows a silver teapot of the Tang Dynasty

thousand gold plates are used, laden with bright red peony flowers of butter." The poem may be an artistic exaggeration, but may testify to the fact that huge quantities of gold and silver eating utensils were used in the imperial palace. Chang'an, the national capital, was center of production, where there was a handicraft workshop producing to meet imperial needs.

    The workshop was expanded during the reign of Emperor Xuan Zong (847-859) as imperial needs grew. During the late period of the dynasty, production of gold and silver articles spread to areas on the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the south and. in artistic style and quality, products produced there were as good as those produced in the national capital. An elaborate range of techniques was employed in production, including sheet-metal working, casting, welding, cutting, polishing, hammering and carving. More often than not, several techniques were used in producing just one piece.

A silver plate of the Rang Dynasty. It was unearthed at Karaqin Banner, Inner Mongolia.

A gold box unearthed from an underground chamber in Famen temple.

    As time went by, gold and silver objects became "purely" Chinese in design and artistic style. Painstaking attention to artistic design characterizes gold and silver objects of the Tang Dynasty - to be more precise, of the shapes of plates.

cups, boxes and pots. Those large plates with floral patterns of gold are the most

striking examples, which take the shape of water chestnut flower or sunflower formed with fine, delicate lines. A sander  burner is probably the most ingeniously constructed. The ball consists of two half-spheres with holes cut in beautiful patterns to allow emission of smoke. The half-spheres each are fitted with a device of concentric circle to ensure balance of the sander holder. Artifacts noted for exquisite craftsmanship also include a gilded silver pot with rings in the shape of a horse and a gilded wine cup with a base in the shape of a turtle.

    Gold and silver artifacts of the Tang Dynasty are also reputed for those decorative patterns on them. Many silver vessels have gilded patterns. Especially worth mentioning are those large plates in shapes of chestnut flower or sunflower. which have in the center deer, lion or fish-like dragon patterns. In many cases, circular floral patterns are done round the main pattern in the center of a plate.

    Gold and silver artifacts were popular not only among monarchs and aristocrats of the Tang Dynasty but also among the land gentry and other rich people. From a single Tang tomb at Hejia Village in Xi'an archeologists unearthed a large quantity of gold and silver artifacts, testifying to the widespread use of such artifacts at the time. Gold and silver objects continued to be popular in dynasties following the Tang. Among tombs from which large quantities of gold and silver artifacts have been unearthed, the most famous is the tomb of Emperor Shen Zong and his queen, one of the 13 imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty in Beijing. Though commoners of the Ming Dynasty, Dong Si, Wan Gui and Wan Tong, also in Beijing, had many funerary objects of gold and silver in their tombs.