Page 35 - 2020 Nov 30 Christie's Hong Kong Scholars Art Of China

fig. 3 The ‘Qi Bozi An Fu Zheng’ xu vessels, rubbing of the inscription and transcription
圖三 山東黃縣南埠村出土的＜㠱伯子垵父征盨＞，銘文及釋文

jade staff finial inscribed with Xing qi ming (‘Maxim on the name attest to the wide ranging influence of the Qi state
Circulation of Qi’ with 45 characters) previously in the in the Shang and Zhou periods, including the ‘Qi Bozi An
collection of Republic collector Li Mugong (1877-1950). In Fu Zheng’ xu vessels (fig. 3), ‘Qi Bo An Fu’ yi vessel (fig. 4),
the Freer Gallery in Washington there is the jade ge inscribed ’Qi Bo An Fu’ pan vessel (fig. 5), all excavated in Nanfucun
with the characters tai bao, dated to the Early Western Zhou in Shandong, 1951; ‘Qi Hou’ ding vessel (fig. 6) excavated in
period and once in the collection of late Qing collector Shangkuangcun in Shandong, 1969; the ‘Pei’ fangding vessel
Duan Fang (1861-1911). Each of these pieces is an important excavated in Beidongcun in Liaoning, 1973; the ‘Qi Mu’ ding
example in the fields of Chinese philology and history. vessel excavated in Qizhen in Shaanxi, 1973.
The current white jade ge inscribed Qi hou Mi yong (For the Even though there are many oracle bone and bronze
use of Marquis Mi of Qi) appears to be the only jade known examples of this clan name, Qi did not appear in ancient
to bear the character Qi, while Mi is possibly the name of textual references until the Eastern Han period, when
the Marquis of Qi. The character Qi appears on Shang oracle historian Wei Hong wrote in Gu Wenguan shu: Qi ( 㠱 )
bones, such as the one inscribed with lao Qihou (old Marquis is the name of an ancient state, synonymous with Qi ( 杞 ).
of Qi) (Heji , 36416); as well as the one recording military Although he did not provide any textual evidence for this
activities of the Qi state (Jia, 2398 and 5877) - evidence that claim, it was taken as true by successive scholars such as
Qi was the name of a vassal state since the Shang period. Ding Du (990-1053) when he was chief editor of official
dictionaries, Xue Shanggong (?-?) in the Southern Song
Amongst archaic bronze vessels dated to the Shang and
period, and Xu Han (1797-1866) and Chen Jieqi (1813-1884)
Zhou periods, those bearing the name Qi were excavated
of the mid-Qing period.
in a wide variety of locations, including Shandong, Hebei,
Henan, Shaanxi and Liaoning. Some scholars postulate that However, linguist and philologist Duan Yucai (1735-1815)
perhaps the Qi armies regularly accompanied the Shang in the Qianlong/Jiaqing period had a different theory:
and Zhou Kings on their military campaigns. Furthermore, ‘According to Jiyun, Qi is the name of an ancient state. Wei
the inscription on the ‘Wangfu’ yi vessel (fig. 2), now in the Hong claimed that it is synonymous to Qi ( 杞 ). This is
Shanghai Museum, indicates that Lady Mengjiang of Qi because Wei Hong claims Qi is the Qi of Qi Song ( 杞宋 )，
was married to the King, showing the close alliance of the however this claim is from a Tang source citing spuriously
two houses. Several other excavated vessels bearing this clan Wei Hong’s Guwen Guanshu, and is unreliable.’ Late Qing

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