Page 280 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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vessel. The decoration consists of rows of stylized Bronze gui vessel with pedestal
dragon heads with angular, interlaced bodies exe-
3
gui: height 31.8 (12 'A), diam. at mouth 22.2 (8 A)
cuted flush with the surface. Such decorations
7
pedestal: height 10.0 (3 /g), width 23.2 feVa),
evoke the style of the sixth century. They can be
depth 23.0 (9)
contrasted with the more dynamic schemes
Warring States Period (c. 433 BCE)
of curling relief elements seen on the hu (cat. 96)
From Leigudun, Suixian, Hubei Province
and;ian-/ou (cat. 97). CM
Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan
1 Excavated in 1978 (C 96); reported: Hubei 1989,1:189 -193,
figs. 91, 92:1, and 2: pi. 50:1. Inscribed on the interior wall
of the vessel, on the rings of the lifting handles, and on Whereas ding were ritual vessels for meat and fish,
the bowl of the spoon: "Marquis Yi of Zeng commissioned gui served as containers for serving grain. This
[this vessel]; may he possess it and use it for eternity." example is one of a set of eight matching gui found
1
2 Such vessels are identified asyu ding on their inscriptions;
twoyu ding were found in Tomb M i (mid-sixth century in the central chamber of the tomb next to a row
BCE) at Xiasi, Xichuan, Henan province. See Henan 1991, of nine sheng ding with flat bases. Starting in the
55-57, figs. 44-46 and pi. 23:1. A list of grave contents Middle Western Zhou period, gui and ding were
inscribed on bamboo slips found in a Chu state tomb at
Baoshan near Jiangling, Hubei province (Tomb 2, late made in closely matched sets (probably inspired by
fourth century BCE) describes the vessels as huo ding. the already established fashion for chimes of bells);
See Hubei 1991,1:98. For a full discussion of the nomen- the number in each set indicated the rank of their
clature of ding, see Yu and Gao 1978-1979. 2
n
^
3 For the hooks (C 155), see Hubei 1989 1:193, §- 94- an( 2: owner. Nine ding and eight gui are said to have
pi. 50:1. Other hooks were found at Xinyang Changtaiguan been an entitlement reserved for the Zhou ruler,
Tomb i (see Henan 1986, pi. 37:2), and Shanxian but archaeological evidence shows that by the end
Houchuanzhen (see Guo Baojun 1981, pis. 94:1-2 and
86:3). Four lifting hooks, identified as mu [?] in the lists of of the Western Zhou period the rulers of some of
the tomb's contents, were found in Baoshan Tomb 2. See the increasingly independent states had usurped
Hubei 1991,1:102, fig. 59, and 2: pi. 29:4. this right. 3
4 For the ladle (C 183), see Hubei 1989,1:215-216, fig. 114:2
and 2: pis. 60:1-2. Sheng ding were used for serving rather The reappearance of the pedestaled gui is one
than cooking. For a discussion of sheng ding, see Yu and instance of a revivalism that pervaded Eastern Zhou
Gao 1978 -1979.
5 Handles were often cast-on during the Shang dynasty — culture beginning in the fifth century BCE. GUI with
legs only rarely so. See Bagley 1987, 42. square pedestals had been introduced at the start
of the Western Zhou period and enjoyed intermit-
tent popularity during the remainder of the period;
by the Early Eastern Zhou period, however, the form
had become rare (except in the east and southeast),
and by the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, it had
gone into complete eclipse within the Chu-Zeng
sphere. Its appearance in Marquis Yi's tomb may
reflect eastern influence. A set of eight pedestaled
gui discovered in the tomb of Marquis Zhao of Cai
(r. 518-491 BCE) at Shouxian in Anhui province
suggests a roughly contemporaneous intermediary
source for the form, for the Cai state had ties to
states further east. The Cai and the Zeng vessels
share specific features — in particular, the square
opening on the pedestal and the petaled knob on
the lid; the traditional masked handles of the Cai
gui, however, are replaced in this example by ser-

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