Page 232 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Bronze ding tripod with five handles of an aristocratic lineage, whose members had
presumably resided at a large Early to Middle West-
5
Height 122 (48 Vs), diam. at mouth 83 (32 A)
Latter Phase of the Early Western Zhou Period ern Zhou settlement discovered nearby. Since no
(c. 1000-975 BCE) inscribed bronzes have been found at this site
so far, the name of the lineage remains unknown.
From Tomb i at Shijiayuan, Chunhua,
The bowl of the ding has a slightly sagging
Shaanxi Province
profile and an everted rim from which two large,
Chunhua County Cultural Relics Museum, outward-bent handles rise. The three handles later-
Shaanxi Province ally attached to the vessel body are a feature unique
to this specimen. They have no discernible practical
This ding, 1 weighing 226 kilograms, is the largest use (the ding was lifted by the rim handles), but
and heaviest Western Zhou bronze vessel on record, they enhance the object's silhouette and effectively
2
though fragments exist of even larger ones. To- frame its decoration.
gether with two much smaller gui vessels found in The principal decorative motif, repeated three
the same tomb, it formed part of an assemblage of times around the vessel body, consists of a symmet-
ritual bronzes, now incomplete because the tomb rical pair of single-legged dragons converging to-
was looted before excavation. ward a central flange. Raised in high relief against
Chunhua is located on the loess plateau at the a background of fine spirals, the dragon bodies are
northern edge of the Western Zhou metropolitan accentuated by widely spaced sunken-line curls.
core. Tomb i at Shijiayuan was part of the cemetery As is often the case in Shang and Early Western

231 | B R O N Z E S FROM FENG HAO AND E N V I R O N S