Page 299 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

FIG. i. Painted lacquer 1 Excavated in 1978; inscribed on the right side of the beak:
drum stand from Tomb i at "Made for the eternal use of Marquis Yi of Zeng"; pub-
Wangshan, Jiangling, Hubei lished: Suixian 1979, pi. 7.1, Hubei 1989,1:251, fig. 147; 2:
province; Warring States color pi. 11.5, and pi. 83; Tokyo 1992, no. 32; Goepper 1995,
7
period; height 104 (40 A). no. 62; Rawson 1996, no. 63.
After Hubei 1996, 92, fig. 62. 2 Thote 1987, 49.
3 See Hubei 1989,1:134 -136.
4 Three ding tripods with snakes holding movable rings
were found in Tomb i at Hougudui, Gushi, southern
Henan province. None have been published to date.
5 Hubei 1989,1:250; Li Xueqin i979b, no. 24; Rawson 1996,
137. It has also been suggested that the bird was placed in
the tomb to accompany the spirit of the marquis through
the afterlife. See Goepper 1995, no. 62.
6 See Hubei 19963, 91, fig. 62 (Tomb i at Wangshan,
Jiangling, Hubei province); Hubei 1995, 304, 309, fig. 206
(four drum stands at Jiudian, Jiangling, Hubei province);
Henan 1986, 93-94, 95, fig. 67 (Tomb 2 at Changtaiguan,
Xinyang, Henan province); Hubei 19843,105,108 and 106,
fig. 82; 112, fig. 90 (fifteen drum stands 3nd six sculptures
3t Yutaishsn, Jisngling, Hubei province). See also Chen
19803.
7 Thote 1987.
imately equidistant from one another; rings passing
through the beak and the tips of the antlers would
likely have held a hanging drum. Moreover, a hang-
ing drum with three rings, but without a stand, was
discovered in the funerary chamber of the marquis'
tomb; its dimensions (diam. 42 [16'A]) and the
position of the rings attached to its wooden frame
strongly suggest that this drum was originally sus-
pended from the bronze sculpture.
The functional and the magical properties of
this sculpture are by no means mutually exclusive:
to the contrary, the complex iconography that
melds various animals into a hybrid being probably
reflected local beliefs, while the sound produced
by the beating drum would have animated this
supernatural being. AT

298 CHU AND OTHE R C U L T U R E S