Page 277 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

cat. 105), numerous lacquered wood items (including furniture, vessels, and zithers), a sculpture
of a deer (one was also found in the central chamber), and basketry boxes. An unprecedented
find was a low table on which were placed spinning whorls wound with silk, indicating the im-
portance of the continued supply of silk in the afterlife of the marquis. Apart from mat weights
(cat. 104), an incense burner, a drum stand in the form of an antlered crane (cat. 100), and
some weapons, bronze objects are conspicuously absent from this chamber.
The central chamber represented the ceremonial hall of the palace. In contrast to the
eastern chamber, the objects that it contained were intended for public display and comprise
the two types of paraphernalia essential to observing the codes of social conduct of the aris-
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tocracy and rulers: musical instruments and bronze ritual vessels. Dominating the west wall
was the now-celebrated chime of bronze bells hung on a three-tiered, bronze-and-wood,
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L-shaped rack. A set of stone chimes (qing) was placed along the north wall and, with the bell
rack, formed a three-sided enclosure for other musical instruments, including ten- and five-
stringed qin zithers, twenty-five-stringed se zithers, sheng gourd-pipes and pan-pipes, and
a variety of drums. The placement of the majority of the ritual vessels — between the short arm

of the bell rack and the south wall — suggests that they were less important than the musical
instruments; the most important wine vessels, including the zun-pan (cat. 95), the hu (cat. 96),
and the filter (cat. 98) were more prominently placed — along the east wall opposite the long
arm of the bell rack.
The northern chamber served as an armory and storeroom and contained a large number
of weapons (including halberds, spears, compound bows, and arrows), lacquered leather armor
and shields, chariot fittings, two massive bronze jars, and bamboo slips that list the mourners at
the funeral and the objects placed in the grave. The western chamber contained relatively few
artifacts — the coffins of thirteen young women and a few of their personal possessions, such
as combs; the chamber likely corresponded to the servants quarters of the palace.
Identification of the occupant of the tomb as Marquis Yi of Zeng rests on inscriptions
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on most of the bells and ritual bronzes naming him as their owner. Although Marquis Yi is not
recorded in historical literature, the date of his death can be established fairly accurately by
the inscription on one of the bells hung on the lower rack of the bell chime. This bell is a bo
type, distinct from theyongzhong type that form the rest of the chime, and was clearly not part
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of the original set. The inscription cast into the central panel states that it was commissioned
by King Xiong Zhang of Chu (r. 488-432 BCE) in the fifty-sixth year of his reign (433) for Mar-
quis Yi. Examination of the marquis' corpse has established that he was in his early forties at
the time of his death; it is unlikely, then, that the tomb dates much later than the third quarter
of the fifth century. 7
The astonishing richness of the find has focused attention on the enigma of the Zeng
state. An inscription on a Zeng bronze found in central Hubei province suggests that the ruling
house of Zeng was related to the Zhou royal house. Although three Zeng states are mentioned

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