Bronze lamps started to emerge in the funerary context in a systematic form during the Han dynasty, performing the functional role of providing light to space. The formal characteristics of the various elements that compose the lamps reveal the Chinese artists' concern in attaining a balance between decoration, the visual beauty of these objects, and their functional and technological character. The lamps usually comprised an interior reservoir to hold water, a lamp cover with a small handle enabling movement and control of the direction the light, a flue connecting the lamp cover to the reservoir which channelled the smoke so it could be dissolved in the water, and a small tray where the oil was placed. Thus, besides controlling the intensity and direction of the light, the water reservoir absorbed the smoke and the ash that fell from the tray.