Page 360 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Bronze mythical animal inlaid with gold near the ears, while its cloven hooves are bovine, as
and silver is shape of the body. The sophisticated inlaid orna-
mentation, which accentuates some of the animal's
Middle Warring States Period,
features, consists principally of abstract spirals in
late fourth century BCE gold and silver on a red ground; the spiral patterns
3
Height 12.1 (4 / 4), length 21.8 (8 ft)
are interrupted by a band around the animal's neck
From Tomb i at Sanji, Pingshan, Hebei Province
that resembles the numerous dog collars discovered
Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Institute, in King Cuo's tomb. The collar design may indicate
Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province that these supernatural beasts had been tamed and
brought under the king's control. LVF
Two bronze beasts, differing from each another only
in the shape of their tails, were found in the east i Excavated in 1978 (MI 0x138); published: Hebei 1979,
pi. 5.1; Hebei 1995, i: 138-139,142, fig. 50; 2: color pi. 15.1;
storage compartment flanking King Cuo s burial pi. 93.
1
chamber. Both objects were partly encrusted with
an unknown black material and show visible signs
of wear. The excavators speculate that the paired
objects may have been supports for a paneled
screen or low table or used to weigh down a mat.
Like the winged beast (cat. 121), the animal here
depicted displays hybrid characteristics: its muzzle
resembles that of a tiger, but it has two short horns

359 | TOMB OF KING CUO OF Z H O N C S H A N