Page 297 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Bronze cranelike figure with deer antlers
!
5
Height 143.5 (56 /2), base: width 45 (17 /s),
3
depth 41.4 (16 /s)
Warring States Period (c. 433 BCE)
From Leigudun, Suixian, Hubei Province
Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan

Washington only

The bronze sculpture, conventionally identified as
1
an antlered crane, is composed of eight separately
cast elements: a nearly square stand, two legs, two
wings, a body that extends into a small head, and
two antlers. The stand, which resembles the lid of
a vessel, has four rings, one on each side, probably
intended to attach the stand to another object or
to hold it in position.
The surface decoration of the object has many
affinities with the style of several other bronzes cast
2
for the marquis. The antlers, head, neck, and front
part of the body, as well as the legs, are decorated
with triangles, scrolls, and volutes. These incised
motifs are inlaid with gold, much like those on
a bronze stand for stone chimes (qing) found at
3
Leigudun. The body and the upper part of the
wings are covered with relief comma patterns; the
rims of the wings were inlaid with turquoise, most
of which is now lost. The stand is decorated in
abstract motifs in low relief and was originally
inlaid with semiprecious stones. All of the object's
ornamental motifs are in fact characteristic of fifth-
century BCE bronze decoration — with an impor-
tant exception: four tiny snakes, cast in the round,
that hold the rings at the base of the object. Four-
teen bronzes from the tomb of Marquis Yi are deco-
rated with the same ornament, which is otherwise
almost unknown in the Chinese bronze repertoire. 4
The object's composite ornamentation therefore
reflects the varying artistic trends of the Chu king-
dom, as well as a close association with the Chu
royal bronze foundries of the fifth century BCE.
While often identified as a crane, the figure
incorporates elements of other animals: two snake-
like dragons emerge from the bird's rounded sides

296 CH U AN D O T H E R C U L T U R E S