1219 Sw Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

For the past two years, the Museum's Money Tree has been the subject of intense scientific examination and conservation. This spring, the Museum will celebrate the restoration of this extremely rare bronze sculpture in a special presentation that places it in the context of major cultural developments in ancient China. Crafted in southwest China during the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220), the Money Tree embodies wishes for eternal prosperity in the afterlife. Dragons and phoenixes, symbols of longevity, cavort across the surface of sixteen bronze leaves, each dotted with coin designs. The crown of the tree--previously hidden beneath layers of encrustation, but now revealed by the conservation process--features two monkeys holding bananas, flanking an upright humanoid figure.

Added by Upcoming Robot on August 26, 2012