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he had abundant good fortune and many Sannian Xing bronze hu vessel
blessings.
3
3
Height 65.4 (25 / 4), diam. at mouth 19.7 (7 / 4)
Even horned and redly gleaming, Middle Western Zhou Period, first half of the
appropriate were his sacrifices.
ninth century BCE
Extending and even was my cultured From Zhuangbai, Fufeng, Shaanxi Province
deceased-father!
Zhou Yuan Administrative Office of Cultural Relics,
Duke Yi was strong and bright,
obtaining purity without debts: Fufeng, Shaanxi Province
the agriculture was well ordered.
Xing (or Wei Bo Xing, as he also referred to him-
It is the servant filial and friendly self in the bronze inscriptions) commissioned more
Scribe Qiang morning and night does not bronzes by far than any other member of the Wei
fail; family. The inscription on one of his fourteen bells
may he daily have his merits acknowledged. discovered in Hoard i establishes that Xing was the
1
Qiang does not dare to stop, son of Qiang, patron of the Shi Qiang pan. In addi-
and in response extols the Son of Heaven's tion to these bells, Xing also commissioned at least
illustriously beneficent command, twenty-two other inscribed bronze vessels, spanning
herewith making this treasured offertory the reigns of several Western Zhou kings: the earli-
vessel. est of the Xing bronzes probably date to the reign
of King Gong (r. c. 917-900 BCE); the Shisannian
Would that his valorous grandfather and
Xing hu (Thirteenth-year Xing hu), for example, was
cultured deceased father grant favor,
2
probably made in 903 BCE. At the other extreme, a
and give Qiang vibrant freshness,
notation corresponding to 862 BCE probably dates
fortunate peace, blessed wealth,
Xing's xu vessel to the reign of King Yi (r. c. 865-
a yellowing old age, and a prolonged life
858 BCE). 3
so that he may be worthy to serve his ruler.
The Sannian Xing hu, or Third-year Xing hu, 4
May he for ten thousand years eternally
treasure and use it. was probably made late in Xing's life. Two aspects of
the inscription suggest that Xing was by this time
1 Excavated in 1976 (24); reported: Shaanxi 1978, 4. an elder — and a distinguished one at that. The
2 The translation that follows is largely adapted from inscription commemorates two banquets at which
Shaughnessy 1991, 3-4,183-192. For a reconstruction Xing was invited to join the king, a rare honor. More
of the rhymes and a presentation of the rhyme scheme,
see Behr 1996,199-204. important, it indicates that Xing's father had died
by the time of its manufacture (the vessel is dedi-
cated to Xing's "august grand-father and cultured
deceased-father" [huang zu wen kao]); the father
seems to have been alive when the Shisannian Xing
hu was made.
The style and especially the ornamentation of
other Western Zhou bronze vessels, moreover, cor-
roborate the dating of this vessel to about 870 BCE.
The Sannian Xing hu is completely decorated with
what is usually referred to as a wave pattern (boqu
wen), which also appears on the ding cauldrons
made for Ke — the Da Ke ding — and seven smaller
Xiao Ke ding. These famous vessels bear inscriptions

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