bandwidth smearing, and assumed an optically thin synchrotron spectral index ($\alpha=-0.7$) to scale the amplitude of the visibilities with respect to the central frequency when averaging the data across multiple channels. The final image was produced using a hybrid of the Clark (BGC CLEAN) and Steer (SDI CLEAN) deconvolution algorithms. The image shows that the source structure is characterized by two major features: a compact component contributing about half of the total flux density (hereafter referred to as the ‘compact jet’), and an extended component surrounding the compact jet like a cocoon (hereafter called the ‘extended envelope’). The compact jet is elongated in roughly the north-south direction, in alignment with the VLBI jet. The galactic nucleus corresponding to the central engine of 3C 48 is associated with VLBI component A [@Sim90; @Wil91]. It is embedded in the southern end of the compact jet. The emission peaks at a location close to the VLBI jet component D; the second brightest component in the compact jet is located in the vicinity of the VLBI jet component B2 (Figure \[fig:vlbimap\]: see Section \[section:vlbimap\]). The extended envelope extends out to $\sim$1 arcsec north from the nucleus. At $\sim$0.25 arcsec north of the nucleus, the 