Page 193 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

two halves, one on each side, hanging behind the 1 Excavated in 1989 (XDM:68); reported: Jiangxi 1997,131.
animal's haunches and separated by an empty slot 2 Li Ji 1977, pi. 5.
3 Zhongguo 19803, pi. 76.
that runs through the animal from head to tail. 4 Freer Gallery 1946, pis. 26 - 27.
The top surface — the animal's neck and back — 5 Allan 1991.
is decorated as a separate panel; an innocuous
bird rests on the animal's spine.
Given the peculiarities of its form, it is likely
that this bronze tiger was placed on or over some
other object, covering and ornamenting it. In this
respect, it recalls the marble tiger and owl from
Tomb 1001 at Xibeigang (see cat. 48), each of which
has a vertical slot at the back, suggesting that they
served to anchor a vertical element. The Xin'gan
tiger also resembles several bronze tigers, inlaid
with turquoise at front and rear, from the tomb of
3
Fu Hao. The head and forelegs of the Fu Hao tigers
are cast as one piece, and two of these bronzes
originally had jade tubes affixed to the heads. The
Fu Hao tigers have no very obvious practical use,
but they may have been displayed near Lady Hao in
life or death. A pair of bronze tigers in the Freer
Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washing-
ton, dated to the Western Zhou period may repre-
sent the continuation of such a tradition; their
open backs suggest that they were the base for
some kind of standing object. 4
Tigers are the most common animal motif
among the bronzes in the Dayangzhou tomb. The
miniature renderings affixed to the handles of ding
andyan seem to be distinctive representations of
this local tradition, but tiger imagery is known from
other regions, including Anyang (see cat. 49). The
ferocity attributed to this animal in later literary
sources may have been recognized in the Shang
period, and on this basis it might have been associ-
ated with warriors, martial valor, and the like. We
should not be surprised to find this image in the
regalia of kings and lords (and perhaps their con-
sorts as well) who sought to celebrate their courage
and prowess. 5 RT

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