This piece is my personal translation of the form, function and imagery used by the Shang and Zhao dynasty people of China in their renowned bronze vessels. I have drawn upon their aesthetics and practices to create a vessel like theirs that contains the fruits of my labors as an offering to the forces of nature. As an artisanal miner, when I search for mineral specimens and lapidary rough, I encounter forces of nature that oppose my wellbeing. Like the Shang and Zhao may have made offerings to the taotie, a horned creature depicted on many of their vessels, I make an offering to appease another glutton: the lone star tick. I was bitten by a lone star tick around the time I found the quartz crystal and chalcedony. It was a tremendous fright to have potentially gained a meat allergy to add to my 6 severe food allergies. I will take every precaution, superstition included to ensure I will never be bitten again. Along with the lone star tick imagery, I use hand push engraving to depict poison ivy and aesthetic curves that to me represent thunder clouds.

I present this bounty of the earth, the fruit of my labors, a treasure unmatched, an offering in favor of my continued wellbeing as I pass through this world.