Page 333 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

wrapped around some of the handles on the lid, and the fourth-century BCE Chu Wangshan Tomb i
a jade bi disk found at the base of the eastern end- at Jiangling (cat. 110), depicts birds and snakes in
4
panel originally hung from the ring handle. 3 combat. The dragons on the Baoshan coffin, al-
The inside of the coffin is coated in plain red though serpentine in appearance, do not seem to
lacquer; the exterior sides and the top are nearly be in an adversarial relationship with the birds, and
completely filled with a polychrome decoration it seems likely that both these motifs possessed
of seventy-two serpentine dragons and an equal auspicious and protective symbolism. 5
number of mythical birds. Bird motifs, often juxta- The attenuated profiles and strong diagonal
posed with dragons or serpents, seem to have been axes of the birds on the Baoshan coffin resemble
particularly important in Chu and its satellites: a those found on an embroidered silk from the
bronze figure of an antlered crane (cat. 100), was fourth-century BCE Chu Tomb i at Mashan (cat.
found in the eastern chamber of the tomb of Mar- H2a). The crossing of one element of the design
quis Yi of Zeng, and crested birds perched on drag- by another is a salient feature of the Mashan em-
ons are depicted on his inner coffin. A screen from broideries and seems to have been the inspiration

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