PLATE II. 



Cast-Iron Stove (see p. 80). 

 Side and front views. 

 In type and style it exactly corresponds to the Han pottery burial cooking- 

 stoves. Posed on four feet in the form of elephant-heads, it is built in the shape 

 of a horse-shoe, and provided with a chimney, five cooking-holes, and a projecting 

 platform in front of the fire-chamber. On the latter is cast an inscription consisting 

 of six raised characters in Han style of writing, reading ta ki ch'ang i hou wang 

 ("Great felicity! May it be serviceable to the lords!"); see p. 79. The iron core 

 is entirely decomposed, so that for exhibition purposes the object had to be braced 

 on wooden supports. Found in a grave near the village Ma-kia-chai, 5 /*' north 

 of the town Hien-yang, Shen-si Province. Inserted here as collateral evidence in 

 determining the provenience and date of the pottery jug illustrated in Plate I. 

 End of Han period (a.d. 220), or, generally, third century a.d. 

 Height, 35 cm; length, 71.5 cm; width, 40.5 cm. Cat. No. 120985. 



