Page 35 - Christie's Important Chinese Art Nov 3 2020 London

in China as much as four centuries earlier, the tomb
of King Wuding (r. c. 1200-1118 BCE) of the Shang
dynasty at Anyang is the earliest of the horse and
chariot burials discovered to date, The regular
discovery of weapons in association with Shang
dynasty chariots suggests that they were used for
military purposes. However, the use of chariots in
battle was limited by their inability to cope with rocky
terrain, and it seems that they were more often used
as mobile command posts or for ceremonial use. In
Sunzi’s Art of War (c. 5th century BCE) there is a
description which would suggest the former:

‘One chariot carries three mailed officers, seventy-
two foot troops accompany it. Additionally, there
are ten cooks and servants, five men to take care of
uniforms, five grooms in charge of fodder, and five
men to collect firewood and draw water. Seventy-five
men to one light chariot, twenty-five to one baggage
wagon, so that taking the two together one hundred
men compose a company.’ (See Jenny So and Emma
C. Bunker, Traders and Raiders on China’s Northern
Frontier, Seattle and Washington, 1995, p. 26.)

The Zhou dynasty Shijing (Book of Odes) also
describes elaborately decorated chariots which were
decked with multicoloured banners, tassels, and
bells. Chariots are even mentioned in the Zhao Hun
(Summoning of the Soul), which is often attributed to
Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BCE), but which may have been
written by Song Yu (fl. 298–263 BCE). One section

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