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Two bronze mat weights to produce not only ritual vessels and weapons
but everyday articles as well. A number of similarly
Height 8.0 (3ft), diam. 11.8 (4%)
shaped bronze objects have been found in tombs of
Warring States Period (c. 433 BCE)
3
the Warring States and Han periods, and the Chu ci
From Leigudun, Suixian, Hubei Province
(Songs of Chu) makes reference to "weights of white
4
Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan jade with which to hold the mats." It is unlikely,
however, that jade mat weights existed outside the
These are two of a set of four weights (zhen) found imagination of poets; all examples of such objects
1
in the eastern chamber of Marquis Yi's tomb. Each recovered thus far are of bronze or lead. CM
depicts eight intertwined dragons in high relief.
Attached to the arched body of one dragon is a ring 1 Excavated in 1978 (E 4, E 94, E 109, E 138); reported:
Hubei 1989,1:244-247, fig. 141:3, and 2: pi. 81:4-5.
handle; circular sockets between the bodies of the 2 See Hubei 1989,1:387, fig. 241:4, and 2: pi. 146. Six mats
dragons would originally have held inlay. The high were found in the fourth-century BCE Chu Tomb i at
degree of undercutting of the dragons' bodies im- Xinyang Changtaiguan in southern Henan province; most
were about one meter wide and bound with silk at the
plies that the weights were cast using the lost-wax edges. See Henan 1986, pi. 68:1-3.
method. 3 A pair of domed-shaped, bronze objects, 8.6 (3 %) wide,
These weights were probably used to secure with ring handles was excavated from Tomb i at Sihui
Niaodanshan in Guangdong province. See He 1985, 362,
mats woven of bamboo or reed. Remains of mats fig. 3:8. A set of four square weights filled with lead was
have been frequently found in Chu tombs and found in a tomb at Beiling Songshan near Zhaoqing in
clearly constituted an indispensable household Guangdong province. See Guangdong 1974, 73, fig. 13.
Four zhen in the form of leopards inlaid with gold, silver,
2
article. Carved stone reliefs from the Han period and agate were excavated from the tomb of Dou Wan
show figures seated on low platforms or on what (d. c. 113 BCE) at Mancheng. These have been identified
as either paper or mat weights. Zhongguo I98ob, 1:265
seem to be mats placed on the floor. Mats are often
and 2: color pi. 26.
mentioned in the Yi li (Book of ceremonial) as part 4 Lady of the Xiang, trans. Hawkes 1985,108.
of the paraphernalia of ceremonials, and their
correct placement in ritual use seems to have
been a matter of some concern.
These are the earliest bronze zhen recovered.
They exemplify the broadening scope of the
bronzecaster, who increasingly was commissioned

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