Recovering the Tripod from the Si River
Not on view
This rubbing was taken from a stone engraving on a chamber wall of the Wu Family Shrine in Jiaxiang, Shandong Province, constructed about 151 CE. It illustrates the failed attempt of the tyrannical first emperor of the Qin dynasty (r. 247–210 BCE) to retrieve from the Si River one of the legendary Nine Tripods, a symbol of the legitimacy of the state since antiquity.
The image shows a dramatic moment during an attempt to lift the tripod from the water. A dragon head emerges from the vessel and bites through the ropes. The tripod begins to sink back into the river under the gaze of the large figures on top, one of whom is probably the emperor. The failure may presage the doom of his empire (221–207 BCE), the most short-lived in Chinese history.
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