Page 543 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

Cat. 95, detail

types of vessels are common to every feudal state, there are regional differences. States in the
Central Plains generally served grains in gui and dou; water and wine were associated with hu
vessels. By contrast, the Chu served grain in gui, fu, and dun (the latter appear more often in
smaller tombs), water and wine were served inyu-fou and zun-fou vessels. Small-mouthed ding
vessels (whose inscriptions identify them as Tang ding andyugong), used for cooking meat stews

and heating water, are associated exclusively with Chu culture.
The most important ritual vessel for representing the social status of a tomb occupant was
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the sheng ding r a type of container for cooked meat and fish. After the middle Spring and Au-
tumn period, tombs of high-ranking aristocrats (such as marquises and ministers) in the Chu
cultural region were provided with ding vessels in sets of seven or nine. Sheng ding with narrow
waists and flat bottoms were found in the Chu tombs of Wang Ziwu, the chief minister Yuan
Zifeng (the seven ding found in the Yuan Zifeng Tomb 2 in Xiasi once belonged to Wang Ziwu),
King You of Chu, Marquis Zhao of Cao, and Marquis Yi of Zeng; examples of lidded sheng ding
with a rounded bottom, commonly seen in the feudal states, have also been recovered from Chu
tombs associated with ranks lower than the dafu. The narrow-waisted, flat-bottomed ding, which
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seems to have served as an auxiliary ding vessel, is exclusively a Chu bronze type.

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