Page 349 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

these comes from a mid-seventh century BCE tomb like excrescences on the monster handles of the pair of hu
of a ruler of the small state of Huang (in Guang- (cat. 96) from the same tomb.
9 The symbolism of antlers in both Chu and the broader
shan county in southern Henan province); another Asian context is explored in Salmony 1954.
example was found in a fifth-century BCE tomb at
6
Shaoxing in Zhejiang province. The widespread
distribution of these stands, as well as the occa-
sional finds of antlers in tombs in Shanxi and Shan-
dong provinces, implies that belief in the magical
efficacy of antlers enjoyed a broad currency in
7
ancient China. The cult of antlers, however, seems
to have been particularly strong in the Chu region:
carved wood deer sculptures with real antlers are
frequently found in the larger Chu tombs, and
antlers are also frequently applied to carved wood
8
figures of birds (fig. i). Frequent mention in the
Shan haijing (Classic of mountains and seas) of
horns or antlers as attributes of imaginary beasts
suggests that antlers were regarded as sources of
magical power, a belief that was widespread in the
9
ancient world. CM

1 Excavated in 1978; reported: Hubei 1982,104-105, fig. 28,
pi. 23:7.
2 Similar antlers from tombs at Jiudian near Jiangling have
been identified as those of Elaphurus davidianus. See Hubei
19953, Appendix 10, 535.
3 The most extensive publication of these figures is Hubei
1984,107-111, figs. 88-89 and pi. 67-68:1-3, Hubei
19953, 298 - 308, figs. 196 - 205, and pis. 91 - 93:2. A few
have also been discovered in Chu tombs in Hunan 3nd
Hensn province. See Chen 3nd Rusn 1983, 63-67.
4 See Chen and Ru3n 1983, 63 - 67.
5 Hswkes 1985, 225. It should be noted, however, thst the
continuation of the passage quoted describes Tu Bo as
having a tiger's head with three eyes 3nd 3 bull's body,
festures that do not appear on these figures.
6 For the Guangshan stand, see Hensn 1984, pi. 3:3. The
Shsoxing siand is illustrated in Ji3ngsu 1984, 23, fig. 34,
pi. 2. See also Mackenzie 1991,127-128 and note 58.
7 A number of Early Western Zhou period bronzes are
decorated with heads besring sntlerlike horns (see, for
exsmple, the you in the Freer Gsllery of Art illustrated in
Rawson 1990, IIB: 364, fig. 38.4). Two antlers were found
along with Western Zhou period bronzes in a pit near
Jiangling. See He 1994, 90, fig. 12:1-2. A bronze ornament
in the form of antlers was excavsted from 3 seventh-
century BCE tomb near the site of the ancient capital of
the state of Xue near Tengzhou in southern Shandong
province. See Shandong I99ib, pi. 15:6.
8 See, for instance, the figure of a bird standing on the back
of a tiger from this tomb (Hubei 1982, pi. 3:2). See also the
bronze figure of an antlered crane from the tomb of
Marquis Yi of Zeng (cat. 100) 3nd the ministurized sntler-

348CHU AND OTHER CULTURES