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Plate 13.1 Two pages from the
Zuantu huzhu Zhouli 纂圖互註
周禮 (The Rites of Zhou,
Illustrated and Cross-
Referenced), Southern Song
edition, National Library of
China, pp. 17–18. a) Liuzun tu
六尊圖 (Images of Six Vessels)
(left) after Sanli tu and b)
Zunlei tu 尊罍圖 (Images of
Wine Vessels) (right), after Liju
yang 禮局樣 (Ritual Service
models). Liju yang was the
official ritual vessel models
issued by the Southern Song
government, based on the
Xuanhe bogu tu system

This revolutionary change in ritual vessels, in tandem these earlier systems were almost abandoned. We might
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with the ritual reform of the early Ming dynasty, was not view the new ideas of the early Ming dynasty as ‘a third
limited to the ceremonies of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, system’ (or ‘ceramic-oriented ritual vessel system’ or
but was also seen in the regulation for jiaoshi 郊祀 (suburban ‘Hongwu ritual vessel system’), in addition to the Sanli tu and
sacrifices) such as the sacrifices to Heaven, Earth and other Xuanhe bogu tu systems.
gods, and later extended to the ceremonies of royal courts, According to the illustration in Da Ming huidian 大明會典
12
local government and Confucian temples within the state. 8 (Collected Statutes of the Great Ming), vessels for worshipping
Although it is not certain to what extent this early Ming Heaven at the Circular Mound Altar (Huangqiu 圜丘), apart
ritual policy was followed, we know that it was long lived. For from jue 爵, deng 登, xing 鉶, fu 簠, gui 簋, bian 籩 and dou 豆,
almost 400 years this ceramic-oriented ritual practice lasted, were all replaced by dishes or bowls made of ceramic (Pl.
13
at least up to the reign of the Yongzheng 雍正 emperor 13.2). Interestingly, another order by the emperor came
(1723–35) in the Qing dynasty. We learn this fact from the right after, which changed all the ritual vessels into
comments made by the Qianlong 乾隆 emperor (r. 1736–95), porcelain. This change is not only limited to the state level
when he conducted systematic ritual reform in the 13th year but was also enforced in other princely courts, local
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of his reign (1748), followed by the publication of a ritual book government and Confucius temples as shown in
with illustrations, Huangchao liqi tushi 皇朝禮器圖式 (Illustrated documents. 14
Regulations for Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Imperial Court) in Recent studies on rituals and ritual vessels of the Song,
the 24th year (1759). 10 Yuan, Ming and Joseon dynasties provide us with a better
Almost every recent publication on early Ming ceramics basis for further study. Hsieh Ming-liang’s 謝明良 studies on
mentions this unprecedented change by the Hongwu the above-mentioned two systems of Sanli tu and Xuanhe bogu
emperor in the 14th century. No one, however, has paid tu ritual vessels, which were employed after the 8th century
enough attention to this issue, leaving a number of further in East Asian regions as shown in the cases of excavated
issues to be explored in the course of this chapter. burials of the Tang dynasty Empress Ai 哀 and the Yuan
dynasty Wang 汪 family, help us identify the choices being
A third system: What was the main content of this made in different periods. Chen Fang-mei 陳芳妹 and Hsu
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change of ritual vessels? Ya-hwei 許雅惠 take a broader view of East Asian
Previous studies have shown that there were two Confucian ritual practice. Hsu Ya-hwei studies the set of
distinguished systems of ritual vessels employed from at least black pottery ritual vessels from the Yuan dynasty
the Song to the Yuan dynasty: the ritual vessel shapes for unearthed from Saiyinchidahu’s 賽因赤答忽 tomb at
worshipping illustrated in the Sanli tu 三禮圖 (The Illustrated Luoyang 洛陽, Henan, and argues that the ritual vessel
Catalogue of Three Ritual Classics) and those that followed the shapes based on contemporary illustrated ritual books for
ancient bronze shapes illustrated in the Xuanhe bogu tu 宣和博 county level, Shaoxi zhouxian shidianyi tu 紹熙州縣釋奠儀圖
古圖 (The Xuanhe Illustrated Catalogue of Antiquities) (Pl. (Illustrated Shaoxi Confucius Worshipping Ceremony of Counties),
13.1a–b). By the early Ming, with the introduction of the was possibly edited by Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) during the
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new idea of ritual vessels issued by the Hongwu emperor, Southern Song period (only the Qing edition survives today)

114 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450