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Gold Dang with the Cicada Design, Eastern Jin Dynasty

【Period】:Eastern Jin dynasty

【CAT】    :Gold and Silver

【Size】    :Length 5.5cm, width 5.5cm

Excavated from a tomb of an Eastern Jin aristocrat in the Crane Taoist Temple in Qixia District of Nanjing. Collected by the Oriental Metropolitan Mus

This gold dang (a crown ornament) has a pointed gable-shaped top. The theme motif is the hollowed-out pattern of a cicada with stretching out wings. Both sides of the head of the cicada are decorated with curly grass patterns. Around the cicada are the jagged decorative patterns. Small gold millet grains are inlaid on the outlines of the cicada. The objects inlaid in the eyes of the cicada have lost. Along the northern edge, there are the zigzag-shaped buckles. From Han dynasty to Jin dynasty, gold dangs with designs of cicada often went with sable tails, collectively known as “diaochan (sable and cicada)”, which were iconic crown ornaments for Shi-zhong and Chang-shi (ancient title names).