Page 55 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

41 Tiger, one of a pair . Bronze.
Western Chou period.

religious function decayed as they became a means of communi-
cating to the clan ancestor, and recording for posterity, some hon-
our or achievement of the living aristocrat, and thereby proclaim-
ing his prestige and power. Sometimes running to several
hundred characters in length, they are valuable historical docu-
ments in themselves. A typical short early Chou inscription on a
kuei in the Alfred Pillsbury Collection shows the function of the
vessel quite clearly: "The King attacked Ch'i-yu and went out and
attacked Nao-hei. When he came back, he made /wo-sacrifice
[burnt offering] in Tsung-chou and presented to me, Kuo Pao X,
ten double strings of cowries. I presume in response to extol the
King's grace, and so I have made my accomplished dead father's
kuei vessel. May for a myriad years sons and grandsons forever
2
treasure and use it."
For perhaps a century after the Chou conquest, Shang bronze 42 Ritual vessel, Iri Bronze. From a
hoard discovered in K'o-tso-hsien,
styles survived, particularly in the Loyang region of northern
Liaoning Western Chou period
Honan, though increasingly modified by the taste of the Chou
court. Gradually, popular Shang shapes such as the ku, chiieh,
kuang, and yu disappeared, and the p'an, a shallow basin, became
more common, perhaps reflecting less wine-swilling and more
clean hands in the Chou rituals, while the ting had now become a
wide shallow bowl on three cabriole legs.
Bronzes of this period tend to be more coarsely modelled,
shapes sagging and heavier, Manges large and spiky, the vessels
more treasured by Chinese connoisseurs for their inscriptions
than for any beauty of form. The animals that featured so promi-
nently in Shang decor, notably the t'ao-t'ieh, have dissolved into
broad bands, meanders, and scale patterns. The flight of the ani-
mals was due not to any inevitable stylistic evolution but to a
change in the religious outlook of the ruling class. The Shang had
believed that animals real or imaginary were both clan ancestors
and messengers of the gods. The Chou people, once they had for-
gotten Shang traditions, saw birds and animals not as protective
spirits but as fierce creatures, even as enemies to be fought against
or conquered by earthly heroes such as Yi the Archer, who shot
out of the sky the nine sun-birds that were scorching the earth.
The stylistic change was given a further impetus in the eighth 43 Ritual ve5srl,_£ng-(square)i.
Bronze. Long dedicatory inscription of
and seventh centuries by foreign ideas and techniques brought the court annalist Ling.