Page 13 - Status & Ritual Chinese Archaic Bronzes

know precisely what symbolism those motifs might have Lot 5
held, if any. Speculation abounds, but precise identification Lot 15
necessarily must await discovery of hard evidence from the Lot 2
people who created and used them.

The green bands that appear on the surface of the square li
cooking vessel (lot 7) are not decorative elements; indeed,
though ancient, they are neither original to nor integral with
the vessel itself. Rather, they are pseudomorphs – impressions
of a fabric or basket that were incorporated into the patina
as it formed over time. In this case, the wide flat bands
suggest a woven basket rather than a fabric. Though such
traces seldom remain on bronzes today, in fact, many vessels
seem to have been wrapped in fabrics. Only under special
circumstances did the fabric survive for a sufficient length of
time to leave its imprint on the patina. Such pseudomorphs
occasionally appear on ritual jades of the Shang and Zhou
periods as well, not as encrustations but as marking on the
jade surface, apparently the result of chemical changes in the
jade itself caused by the deterioration of the fabric. (See three
jades in the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection at the Harvard
Art Museums, 1943.50.63, 1943.50.538, and 1943.50.5551

Although standard vessel shapes and established decorative
motifs both persisted after the fall of Shang, the people of
Western Zhou quickly introduced changes, perhaps reflecting
slightly differing beliefs and practices; in fact, some vessel
types disappeared, while other became more elaborate, such
as the gui food-serving vessel, which often was set atop a
large, integrally cast, square socle. The flanges that segment
the surfaces of many sacral vessels became more assertive over
time; those on the Shang-dynasty gu beaker (lot 8) are low –
they really are little more than ridges – and they appear only
on the flaring foot and central knop, for example; by contrast,
the bold flanges on the late Shang to Early Western Zhou zun
vessel (lot 12) are high, rise the entire height of the vessel,
from the foot to the lip and beyond, and incorporate gaps, or
breaks, that emphasise the vessel form. Perhaps originating as
aids in positioning the casting molds – as they occur at mold
joints – such flanges quickly assumed an important role in the
decorative schemes of many vessel types.

Just as vessel shapes evolved, so did decorative schemes. In
some Western Zhou vessels, confronting, long-tailed birds
supplanted the taotie masks of old in the principal decorative

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