Money Tree

China

1st-2nd century

Bronze and green glazed earthenware

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Among the most intriguing objects recently discovered in the Eastern Han (25-220) tombs of Szechuan province are so-called money trees. Typically made of a bronze trunk and branches set into a ceramic base, they are called money trees because the lower part of the lattice-like branches are decorated with coin-shaped designs that imitate actual coins of the Han period. The coinage represents the wealth and abundance necessary to nourish the spirit in the afterlife, and the tree symbolized renewable, on-going monetary sustenance and unending prosperity. <P>The top of the tree is surmounted by an elegant phoenix (<I>feng huang</I>) or