Page 401 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

133

and from Yangzhou in Jiangsu province. The use Bronze foot in the shape of a bear standing
of southern Chinese object forms and decorative on top of a bird
motifs is likely a reflection of the political climate: 3
the Qin state had conquered the Chu state (the Height 11.6 (4 / 8) century BCE
Dynasty, late second
Western Han
dominant power in central southern China and the (c. 113)
heart of the lacquer industry) and had pushed the From the tomb of Liu Sheng at Lingshan,
king and his entourage eastward to found the East- Mancheng, Hebei Province
ern Chu state. The Liu family — the founders of the
Han dynasty — came from this state, and brought Hebei Provincial Museum, Shijiazhuang
with them the practices of their own region in the
south and southeast to the seat of the court at This small bronze shows a four-legged beast stand-
1
Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). ing on the wings of a bird. The extraordinary crea-
The placement of these vessels in the beauti- ture appears to be some sort of feline or bear but a
fully prepared back chamber implies that the pieces female in any event, with a large protruding (per-
were intended for the king's personal use; the haps pregnant) belly and pendulous breasts. The
inscription itself, which makes no mention of right arm is raised to scratch behind its right ear,
ancestor ceremonies but rather explains that these while the left arm is pushed down and braced
sumptuous vessels, containers for wine, will bring' against the knee. The creature appears to crouch
pleasure in a long or even eternal afterlife, suggests on the back of a resting bird; one foot rests on the
considerable changes in the manner in which joint of the bird's wing, while the other rests on the
offerings were presented to the ancestors. JR body of the bird, which faces forward and has a
large beak, round eyes, and two earlike extensions.
1 Excavated in 1968 (M 1:5015); reported: Zhongguo 1980!}, The bird's long wings are drawn backward, and from
1:43-48.
2 See Xiao 1972, 49 - 52; Dien 1985,1087 -1090. behind rises a plume or tail that seems to have eye
3 Translation after Dien 1985. decoration, referring perhaps to a peacock.
4 Hunan 1973, fig. 26. The image of one creature standing on a bird
or another creature is readily linked with large
wooden lacquered sculptures from the Chu state.
In examples from late Chu tombs (third century
BCE), such as that at Yutaishan, Jiangling, Hubei
province, birds stand on crouching felines. The
birds often have wings of antlers (see cat. 118), and
appear to be guardian figures.
A variant on this Chu motif appears in an
ornament from the tomb of Dou Wan: a bird
(which would originally have held a pair of tubular
cups behind its wings) stands on a small feline.
This shape was developed directly from another
Chu type — a double cup supported by a bird, such
2
as that found in the Chu tomb at Baoshan. It is
possible that this bronze is a variant on this theme.
Here the feline and bird have been reversed in
position, but they retain the motif of an upright
creature standing on a crouching one.

400 E A R L Y I M P E R I A L CHIN A