Page 202 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Bronze fangyou vessel

7
7
Height 27.8 (io /s), diam. at mouth 7.3 (2 A),
weight 2.3 (5 V»)
Late Shang Yinxu Period II (c. 1200 BCE)
From Dayangzhou, Xin'gan, Jiangxi Province

Jiangxi Provincial Museum, Nanchang

Bronze vessels for the storage, preparation, or
service of wine are sparsely represented in the
Dayangzhou assemblage. This you wine container
1
with a bail handle is one of three examples of its
type. The assemblage also included a pair of hu, a
lei, a pou, and a large serving ladle. These vessels are
not of a matched set, and this you and one hu are
the most advanced stylistically when judged against
developments known from the north. In both cases,
squared spirals (leiwen) fill the ground over the
entire surface. Most of these wine vessels are unex-
ceptional renderings of common types and variants;
this fangyou, by contrast is decidedly unusual.
The square-section (fang) body is punctured by
two large open channels that run from side to side ending in animal heads, a link joining handle
and cross in the interior. If the vessel were dipped and lid — but exhibits a surprising innovation. 3
into a larger container of hot or cold water, the Its "neck" is actually a separate gu vessel placed
water would immediately flow through these open- upside-down atop the belly of the you. The wine
ings to warm or cool the liquid contents of the container thus carries a drinking goblet. One might
vessel. Another example of this design is known, argue that this innovation and designs such as
a Late Shang vessel (now in the Beijing Palace the Dayangzhou fangyou are more likely to have
Museum) of similar size with, however, only a single emanated from the Shang foundries at Anyang than
2
channel running from front to back. As in the from the culture of the Gan River tomb. If so, this
Dayangzhou example, decoration surrounding the vessel (like the bronze helmet [cat. 63]) would
channel literally frames the opening. The Palace be one of few imports that testify to interaction
Museum vessel has a plain neck and differs from between Jiangxi and the north. RT
the Dayangzhou example in other details of the
handle and lid. 1 Excavated in 1989 (XDM:4/); reported: Jiangxi 1997,
62-69.
Many features of this fangyou link it to Late 2 Weng and Yang 1982,120.
Shang examples from Anyang, including vessels 3 Li and Wan 1972, pi. 43.
from the tomb of Fu Hao and the pre -World War II
excavations. You vessels with tall necks are attested
in both round- and square-section varieties, but
their decoration varies considerably. A somewhat
smaller round you from Xibeigang Tomb 1022 shares
many features with the Dayangzhou fangyou —
dense decoration on all surfaces, a bail handle

2O1 TOMB AT D A Y A N G Z H O U , X I N ' G A N