Delicately-designed black-lacquered drum from over 2,000 years ago

This delicately-designed artifact is a drum from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). From the bottom to the top, it features two crouching tigers facing opposite on a rectangular base, entwined with six snakes. A phoenix stands on each tiger’s back. In the center, a large drum is suspended beneath the phoenix crowns. Two small tigers respectively stand on the back of the phoenixes, with their hind legs treading on the phoenix’s back, and their front legs supporting the drum frame.

Coated in black lacquer and decorated with red, yellow and silver-white colors, the drum highlights the romantic and mystical characteristics of Chu culture.

Unearthed from a Chu tomb in Zaoyang, Hubei province, in 2002, the drum is in the permanent collection of the Hubei Provincial Museum.