Page 319 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

Ill

ma Two painted lacquer erbei cups
a. Length 15.7 (6'/8), maximum width 12.6 (5)
!
b. Length 18.1 (7), maximum width 13.3 (5 / 4)
Late Warring States Period, c. early third
century BCE
From Tomb i at Mashan, Jiangling, Hubei Province

Jingzhou Prefecture Museum, Hubei Province

These two oval cups 1 (erbei, or ear cups, so called
because of the two earlike extensions at the rim)
are part of a large set of eating and drinking vessels
found in a compartment at the head of the outer
coffin from Tomb i at Mashan. Carefully packed
inside a bamboo casket, the set is composed of
several lacquered pieces (twelve erbei, two boxes)
and bronze vessels (two erbei, one hu wine con-
tainer, two tripod ding, a large ladle and spoon, as
well as ayi and a pan basin for washing the hands).
The earliest erbei known to date were excavated
from an eighth-century BCE tomb in Hubei
2
province. During the Warring States period, at
least two main types were in use within the Chu
kingdom: the shape of the vessel is the predomi-
nant criterion for defining the typology. The first is
characterized by quite large angular and pointed
projections, while cups of the second type (repre-
sented by these examples) have small rounded
"ears." In both cases, these appendages are gener-
ally raised. The projections on the larger cup are
beveled rather than raised, a subtype represented
only rarely among burial vessels and of later date
3
than the two conventional forms. That this
beveled erbei is the sole such example among the
Mashan lacquerware earcups (as well as its larger
size) suggests that it was reserved for a specific use
(or user) during meals.
Both cups are decorated with unusual motifs
in somewhat heterogeneous styles. The first cup is
painted with cinnabar red, yellow, and pale yellow.
Touches of gold decorate a dark red background
on the inner surface; the outer surface is painted
in black background (the colors have changed
since the excavation). Two large birds symmetri-
cally frame a quatrefoil motif at the center, an

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