Gold Food Container and a Colander

Before the Zeng Hou Yi Mausoleum was discovered, there had been few golden artifacts from the Shang and Zhou dynasty. Yet from the Zeng Hou Yi mausoleum, more than 8 kg of gold objects have been unearthed, most of which contains more than 85% of gold, some contains 93 % of gold. This indicates that ancient people already mastered gold casting 2400 year ago.

This gold container is among the largest and the heaviest gold objects that were made before the Qin Dynasty. Its lid and edge are decorated with patterns of Panchi (snake-shaped dragons), ropes and thunderclouds. A gold colander was put in the container．Its hollowed-out part is an abstract pattern of two dragons playing with one ball.