bronze an alloy of copper and either arsenic or tin, which produces a material that is harder and more durable than copper alone. Since ores of tin and copper rarely occur together, bronze working stimulated trade between different cultures in the ancient world. Bronze can be cast into various shapes or hammered into flat sheets from ingots.
Central Plains region on the lower reaches of the Yellow river, roughly corresponding to modern-day Henan, the southern part of Hebei, the southern part of Shanxi and the western part of Shandong provinces, regarded as the centre of the world in the Chinese Bronze Age.
inlay a decorative technique involving the insertion of contrasting materials into depressions in the surface of the object being decorated. Inlays are frequently made with precious materials such as gold, silver, turquoise or jade.
ocarina a type of vessel wind instrument, often ovoid and made of ceramic material or bone, with a mouthpiece and holes to vary the pitch of the note.
radiocarbon dating method of establishing the age of an organic object by measuring the level of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon, remaining in it. Living organisms exchange carbon with the biosphere, and so have the same level of radiocarbon as the surrounding environment. Once they are dead this exchange ceases, and the radiocarbon starts to decay. Since radiocarbon decays at a known rate, comparing the amount of radiocarbon in an object with the amount in the environment will give an estimate of when the organism died.
ritual a sequence of activities usually carried out in a religious context, which may involve specific words or actions, and is usually characterized by invariance, fixed forms and deference to tradition. In the Chinese Bronze Age central control of ritual was a means of maintaining the power and status of elites. The use of bronze vessels of different types characterized ritual in Bronze Age China. The evolution of such ritual vessels over time offers one method of interpreting and periodizing social and cultural changes.
smelting the process of extracting a metal from its ore. In ancient times this was achieved by heating the ore with charcoal in a kiln or furnace, the charcoal producing carbon monoxide which acts as a reducing agent, liberating the pure metal from its compound.
sumptuary laws set of regulations that control the consumption of especially luxury goods, usually by stipulating that particular foods, clothes or materials could only be used by higher social classes. Sumptuary laws were instituted as a means of establishing and maintaining social hierarchies.
welding the process of joining two pieces of metal together by heating and softening them. Forge welding was the earliest method, which involves heating the metal and then hammering the separate pieces together. A bead weld uses a filler material between the pieces of metal to create a joint, called a bead.
The Chinese Bronze Age is represented by an enormous number of copper-based objects from a wide range of locations. Although the delicate decoration of these objects has often been remarked upon, little is known about where and how the metal used to manufacture them was produced. The production of metals was a serious issue, since the power of a state was largely legitimated by its control of metal-production centres. Jurisdiction over these metal sources could cause warfare between neighbouring areas, the moving of capital cities and ultimately the prosperity or decline of regional powers. Copper production involves a series of complex activities from mining to smelting, consumes considerable amounts of resources and requires a high level of labour organization. Ancient copper-production sites were usually located close to copper ore deposits and to woodland, in order to avoid the necessity of transporting heavy ores and bulky charcoal. However, it is notable that the Central Plains, the location for the most conspicuous Bronze Age cultures, has no significant copper ore deposits. This implies that the large-scale metal-casting workshops of these cultures had to import metals from other areas. Archaeologists have struggled to identify the copper sources of the cultures for the Central Plains, but still have no conclusive answer.
Copper production was vital for the ancient Chinese dynasties. The cultures in the Central Plains, although the largest consumers of copper, had no resources to produce it, and the location of their copper source is still a matter for debate.
The most impressive ancient copper-production site was found in Tonglushan, in Hubei province. The excavations revealed mining galleries, ore-dressing facilities, smelting furnaces and huge heaps of slag. Significant disturbance from later mining activities means evidence is hard to date accurately. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the site might have been used in the late Shang dynasty while most of the remains were dated to the Western and Eastern Zhou periods.
RITUAL VESSELS & THEIR DISTRIBUTION
Siran Liu
The middle Yangtze river valley has been suggested as a source of the copper ore used in the Central Plains.
The most impressive technological innovation in the Chinese Bronze Age was piece-mould casting, which was employed in the large-scale production of bronze ritual vessels, musical instruments, decorative items and other artefacts. This technology characterized three Chinese Bronze Age cultures, the Erlitou, Shang and Zhou, and distinguished them from their northern and northwestern neighbours. In contrast to lost wax casting, a typical mould for piece-mould casting consists of at least three sections assembled around a core. The sectioning enables the mould to copy complex shapes and intricate patterns from a model. The gap between mould and core was filled with liquid bronze to form the artefact. The invention of piece-mould casting in the Central Plains was brought about by the institutional use of ritual vessels in China, which in itself is a cultural practice rarely identified outside of China. This industry culminated in the late Shang to early Western Zhou period when vessels became huge in size and were finely decorated with high-relief patterns. The collapse of centralized power in the late Western Zhou period had a significant impact on this industry. During the subsequent Eastern Zhou period, the sophisticated way of dividing mould sections was simplified and standardized, and cast-on, welding and inlay techniques were widely adopted.
Piece-mould casting is the hallmark of the Chinese Bronze Age cultures of the Central Plains, and played a significant role in their ritual systems.
The Erlitou culture (1900–1500 BCE) has been identified as the first culture to widely adopt piece-mould casting, but some sporadic finds such as the copper ‘bell’ discovered at the site of Taosi (2600–2000 BCE) suggest that the roots of this technology might be in the late Neolithic period. Other issues concerning this technology such as pattern-making techniques and its relationship with lost wax casting attract abundant ongoing academic exchanges.
Siran Liu
This owl-shaped wine jar shows the capacity of piece-mould casting to reproduce intricate shapes and patterns.
Lost wax casting is likely the most controversial technology of the Chinese Bronze Age. Whereas some scholars claim that this technology was fully mastered by Chinese people by the Eastern Zhou period, others hold the opposite opinion, that lost wax casting never appeared in China during the Bronze Age. In contrast to piece-mould casting, lost wax casting is generally accepted as an exotic technology which was mainly used in China to manufacture elaborate decorations on bronze artefacts, rather than for figurines as in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Early evidence of this technology, though still debatable, has mostly been identified in the Chu area and its adjacent regions in central-south China during the middle Eastern Zhou period. In brief, lost wax casting technology involves creating a model of wax and covering it with clay material to form a mould around it. The mould is fired, and the molten wax drains, leaving a gap inside the mould that will be filled by the metal. Compared to the piece-mould method, lost wax casting is much more versatile in shaping any form and enables the craftsman to create considerably more sophisticated decorations on bronze artefacts, such as, for example, the renowned Zun vessel and Pan plate from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng state.
Lost wax casting was employed as a supplementary technology to piece-mould casting during the Chinese Bronze Age to create intricate decorations on bronze artefacts.
The famous Zun vessel and Pan plate found in the tomb of Marquis Yi were decorated with a rim of intricate hollowed intertwined patterns, which was immediately recognized as evidence of lost wax casting. Nevertheless, in 2006 a group of scholars published a paper suggesting that these decorations were manufactured by means of piece-mould casting, and questioned the existence of the lost wax casting technique during the entire Chinese Bronze Age.
Siran Liu
A clay mould used for lost-wax casting, together with the resulting decorated bronze mirror.
Bronze ritual vessels were among the most valuable products of the Shang and Western Zhou periods. Normally in the form of alcohol or food containers, ritual vessels appeared at ceremonial banquets (sometimes called sacrifices), in which they were possibly used as offerings to honour gods or family ancestors. Ritual bronzes were usually decorated with attractive motifs, and some of them were inscribed with the name of the vessel’s owner and descriptions of their honours or achievements. These early writings were likely intended for gods or ancestors to read, or considering the vessel owners themselves as future ancestors, for their descendants to treasure. Originating in the Central Plains, the use of bronze ritual vessels was widespread in the metropolitan areas of the north Yellow river valley and the south Yangtze river region, covering most of the area between the two river regions and beyond. However, in some remote regions (such as Sanxingdui in Sichuan), although similar bronze vessels were involved in ritual assemblage, it is believed that the local people understood and used such ritual vessels in ways different to those of the central areas, especially the ritual performances that related to ancestor worship.
The use and significance of bronze ritual vessels related to the beliefs of ancient Chinese people and their attitude towards life and the afterlife.
In field archaeology, ritual bronzes are normally found in tombs and hoards. The former constitutes the majority, where bronzes were intentionally buried so that the tomb occupant would be able to continue to offer ceremonial banquets to his or her ancestors in the afterlife. Hoards, on the other hand, are more uncommon. The largest finds in Zhouyuan, for instance, are believed to have been hastily buried when the Zhou people had to flee their homeland in the face of invaders from the west.
Beichen Chen
These bronze ritual vessels date from the Western Zhou period, the later vessel on the right shows the change to a more simple geometric palette.
On 19 January 2003, 27 bronze vessels were discovered at Yangjiacun village, Shaanxi province. They belonged to a noble family of the Western Zhou, the Shan. Inscriptions on the vessels describe a family tree from 3,000 years ago. The owner of the bronzes was Lai, who was an administrator of natural resources for King Xuan (827–782 BCE), a position that he had inherited from his ancestors. Lai also served with distinction in the war against the Xianyun, a minority tribe. He was put in charge of the captives from the war. Most of the bronzes were made after this appointment. Lai proudly listed the ranks and achievements of his ancestors on the bronzes.
The Shan family reared eight generations in the Western Zhou period, and served 12 Zhou kings. The first ancestor named was Shan Gong (Duke Shan). He assisted King Wen and King Wu in their conquest of the Shang dynasty. The second ancestor was Gong Shu, who assisted King Cheng (r. 1042–1021 BCE) to govern the regional states. The third ancestor, Xin Shi Zhong, was a minister during King Kang’s reign (r. 1020–996 BCE). The fourth ancestor, Hui Zhong Li Fu, participated in the war to suppress the Chu state rebels. The fifth ancestor, Ling Bo, was an officer of King Gong and King Yi (r. 922–892 BCE). The sixth generation was Lai’s grandfather, who served King Xiao and King Yi (r. 891–878 BCE). Lai’s father, Gong Shu, was the seventh generation, an officer of King Li (r. 877–828 BCE). All these ancestors were virtuous men and were trusted and rewarded by the Zhou kings, serving the Zhou dynasty as officers for generations.
The Shan family was not the most powerful family of the Western Zhou dynasty, and no record of this family appears in historical texts. However, it is rare to find such a long, clear and complete family lineage inscribed on bronzes. Lai would never have anticipated that the real glory of the Shan family would come 3,000 years after he buried his bronzes.
Chao Tang & Yijie Zhuang
The Lai Pan inscriptions record the achievements of eight generations of the Shan family who served 12 kings during the Western Zhou dynasty.
The institution of matching sets of food vessels (ding and gui) was one of the most representative developments introduced by the Ritual Reform around the mid-9th century BCE. Replacing the previous alcohol-focused vessels in various sizes and decorative styles, identical food vessels – for example, odd numbers of ding tripods in decreasing sizes and even numbers of gui vessels of the same size – formed the core equipment for sacrifices. The conversion from offering alcohol to offering food changed specific tasks in ritual performance, requiring different procedures executed by different specialists. The presence of vessels of the same shape and decoration shifted the audience’s attention from individual vessels to the complete sets, which were of symbolic significance in the vessel owners’ social status. According to the ‘sumptuary rules’ in the texts, the number of matching vessels in a set was supposed to be strictly correlated with the rank of their owner. For example, a king was entitled to nine ding and eight gui, while a minister could have five ding and four gui. Field archaeology, however, has rarely established such a one-to-one correlation. It is possible that the greater quantity sets or larger-sized vessels were made for elites with higher social status or a closer relationship to the Zhou authority, but their specific ranks are hard to discern from their vessel sets.
A move away from individual artefacts to matched sets of bronze vessels characterized the ritual practice of the mid-9th century.
The idea of matching sets was probably inspired by early Western Zhou practice in Shaanxi province. One of the earliest examples, the tomb of a consort of the ruler of Yu state, revealed a simplified set of five ding and four gui, in which the vessels were identical in shape but barely decorated.
RITUAL VESSELS & THEIR DISTRIBUTION
Beichen Chen
Identical ding vessels in decreasing size form one of the most important components of the matching set.
Archaeological discoveries of well-preserved instruments have demonstrated a very long tradition of music making in China. Tonally precise flutes, stone chimes (qing), ovoid clay ocarinas (xun) and drums had already made their appearance prior to the Bronze Age. During the Chinese Bronze Age, more musical instruments were invented and used. With the advent of bronze casting, the first small metal bells were cast in the first half of the second millennium BCE. Chimed sets of bronze bells in a larger size (nao) started to be used by the late Shang elites (c. 1250–1050 BCE). During the Zhou dynasty, dual-toned bronze bells in sets became very significant and played an important role in rituals. Bronze bells, together with other musical instruments, provided the musical accompaniment to dances and singing in the ancestral cult. The bronze bells were suspended on wooden racks. Performers used mallets to hit the striking point for the A- or B-tone on the bells. Important evidence for the musical culture of the period was obtained from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, which contained numerous bronze bells. Uniquely, inscriptions recording the tones were cast on the bells, showing that each bell was designed to produce two tones. This discovery fundamentally changed our understanding of music during this period.
Music making has a venerable history in China, and the advent of bronze technology allowed more sophisticated chiming instruments to be created.
One of the most spectacular discoveries of musical instruments of the Bronze Age was from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. This tomb, dating to the 5th century BCE, is located at Leigudun, near the city of Suizhou, Hubei province, in central China. Over one hundred musical instruments were unearthed from the tomb including sixty-five bronze bells, thirty-two chime stones, seven large zithers (se), three mouth-organs (sheng), two panpipes (paixiao), two transverse flutes (di) and three drums.
RITUAL VESSELS & THEIR DISTRIBUTION
MARQUIS YI OF ZENG
died c. 433 BCE
Ruler of the Zeng state, Warring States period.
Li Zhang
Variations of animal-masks (known in Chinese as taotie), images of creatures (including both imaginary and realistic animals) and geometric motifs formed the repertoire of the ancient decorating system on Chinese bronzes. Despite time and regional differences, the principal ways of combining them were remarkably stable: the eye-based animal-mask (sometimes with winding horns and shrinking body) occupies the visual centre of the vessel, surrounded by one or more layers of subordinate patterns, such as dragons, birds and repeated geometric patterns. Before being overwhelmingly replaced in the 9th century BCE, such taotie and animal images had been valued by the Shang and Western Zhou ruling class for over five centuries. They are normally interpreted in terms of animal/ancestor worship, especially for religious or ceremonial occasions. Through them, ancient people believed they would have the power to communicate with their ancestors or gods. Hence, certain motifs were likely to be given symbolic meanings. For example, taotie could represent ‘power’ or ‘protection’; dragons could stand for ‘death’; and cicadas could mean ‘rebirth’. Although the original significance of these bronze decorations has been lost in history, the mystery of their meaning paradoxically renders the visual impact of this decoration more compelling for us.
The decorative schemes of Chinese bronzes reflected the belief systems of those who commissioned these vessels.
Like inscriptions, in field archaeology decoration is another ‘age indicator’. Based on traditional mould-casting techniques, the animal-mask developed from a plain and undecorated design to incorporate dense intricate patterns, until the 9th century BCE when it was suddenly replaced by bands of geometric patterns. From the 6th century onwards, new casting technologies such as ‘pattern-block’ and ‘lost wax’ allowed the adoption of more complicated designs of bronze decoration.
RITUAL VESSELS & THEIR DISTRIBUTION
Beichen Chen
As one of the most popular motifs on bronzes, animal masks had occupied the visual centre of bronze vessels for centuries.
The late Western Zhou faced a series of crises. Some of these originated from within the state, as a consequence of the expanding bureaucracy and increasing conflict among the aristocrats for land and economic resources. This necessitated a top-down reform of ritual, located at the centre of aristocratic life and involving the use of bronze vessels. Motifs and the decoration of ritual vessels changed from animal shapes and high-relief patterns to an abstract and geometric palette. Wine vessels such as jue almost disappeared from the bronze sets, and the more important role subsequently played by food vessels is evident. Several new types were added to the list of prestigious ritual vessels, but these were simple and humble forms derived from ceramic kitchen vessels. The rationale behind this reform was clear: to reduce the complexity of ritual vessels, to introduce more everyday life elements and to restrict the elites through the imposition of strict sumptuary rules. What remains puzzling is why this reform is not mentioned in any written accounts of the history of the Western Zhou, except for some inscriptions mentioning the court’s ban on alcohol consumption. One explanation is that it may have been secondary to a much more comprehensive reorganization of elite society, so that it penetrated so deeply into society that even historians with sharp eyes failed to notice it.
Through a series of reforms in bronze production that played a central role in the state, the late Western Zhou court managed to re-establish ritual and social order.
The prominent Chinese bronze specialist, Jessica Rawson, was the first scholar to spot these changes and ‘study them as indicators of a major historical phenomenon’. Focusing on the amazing discovery of the famous Zhuangbai No.1 bronze hoard, in which bronzes with distinctive period styles were preserved, she and other scholars were able to reconstruct a complete chronology of these bronzes, with the help of inscriptions, and pin down when these dramatic changes occurred.
RITUAL VESSELS & THEIR DISTRIBUTION
JESSICA RAWSON
1943–
Prominent art historian, curator and academic administrator, specializing in Chinese art and archaeology.
Yijie Zhuang
Intricately decorated wine vessels were replaced by artefacts based on simple food containers.
