Page 50 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses
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Lei 罍 shallow and less elongated and the legs can be full-bodied and cone-shaped,
The term lei is used to refer to a group of vessels that can be making the whole piece look larger and more powerful. Four-legged li or
either round or square and supported either by a ring foot or a square li are extremely rare; one as yet unpublished example is conserved in
flat base, and which all share similar characteristics including the Guimet Museum, Paris.
a constricted, short neck, an ovoid-shaped body, a shoulder
wider in diameter than the rest of the body and, sometimes, a By the middle of the Western Zhou dynasty, the morphology of the li changes
dome-like cover. only slightly, with the vessel becoming much smaller, and its handles being
either fixed to the sides of the vessel or disappearing completely. The three
According to classical texts, the lei was used to hold either lobes become less visible and are supported by three short thin legs, either
fermented beverages or water. Some experts believe that the cylindrical or cabriole-shaped, and the lip or the rim can be sharply flared or
lei first appeared in bronze during the Erligang period of the everted and flat.
Shang dynasty, but they seem to be confusing the vessel with the earliest form
of the similar-looking zun, which is also shaped like a large vase with a ring This shape disappears at the beginning of the Spring and Autumn period.
foot and has a concave shoulder as well as a constricted, short neck.
This early, vase-shaped vessel, if we consider it to be a lei, undergoes important Liding 鬲鼎
changes in its form during the Yinxu period: its shoulders become convex, two This controversial name was used for the first time by
small handles appear at the level of the vessel’s shoulders and a third appears Professor B. Kalgren and is based on the translation of a
at the base of the body just above the foot. It is also during this period that bronze inscription which means, according to different
large square lei, ‘fanglei’, begin to appear. scholars, either “a li and a ding” or “a liding”.
Very popular at the end of the Shang dynasty and the beginning of the Western This hybrid vessel, whose shape is a mixture of a li and a ding,
Zhou, this shape disappears from the Chinese bronze repertoire towards the appears at the end of the Shang dynasty. At this period, the
end of the 3 century bc. vessel’s body, cast with deep grooves separating the vessel’s
rd
three bulbous swells, is supported by three cone-shaped,
pointed, fully rounded legs.
Li 鬲
This tripod vessel named a li is composed of three clustered During the transitional period, from the late Shang dynasty to the early
bulbous swells and was used to cook meat and cereals. Its Western Zhou dynasty, the vessel’s bulbous swells become less obvious and
shape is conducive to quick heating, as the vessel’s design less delineated.
makes it possible for the fire to reach the largest possible
surface of the vessel in a relatively short amount of time. During the Western Zhou the separation grooves virtually disappear, with
only lines separating the body into three sections.
The li is known in pottery in the Neolithic period, but it is
not too common at that time. Its pottery form becomes more
popular during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. It first appears Lian 奩 / Zun 樽
in bronze in the early Shang dynasty, at the beginning of the The lian or, more correctly zun, is a vessel of cylindrical
Erligang period. It is a very simple vessel, thinly cast, with a shape, supported by three small feet, sometimes in the form
body composed of three hollow clustered swells, supported of animals, and topped by a cover.
on three small hollow legs, and with two vertical handles
fixed to the rim. By the end of the Erligang period, the casting Called a lian in the catalogues of collections written by
becomes much thicker. antiquarians from the Song dynasty to the Qing dynasty,
this vessel was originally considered to be a receptacle for
During the Yinxu period and the early Western Zhou dynasty, a neck appears cosmetics. However, the unearthing by archeologists in 1962
in the upper part of the vessel’s body, the three bulbous swells become more at Youyu Dachuan Village in Shanxi province of one such
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