Water-dipper-shaped Qilin

Usually made of bamboo strips and vines, water dippers were tools used by ancient Chinese Han people to water crops. The use of such bamboo water dippers required two persons standing face to face, pulling the two ropes attached to two sides of the dipper to fetch water from river.
This piece shows an ingenious combination of the shape of bamboo water dippers with the makeup of qilin, an auspicious animal in Chinese mythology.