CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

Cat. 49 from above and
side. After Zhongguo
19803, 63, fig. 42.
vessel (cat. 48), one is tempted to find rebuslike
messages in this combination of familiar animals,
both of which appear in other contemporaneous
decoration. RT
1 Karlgren 1974, 43 - 46, quoting Tsiu Kao ()iu gao,
"Announcement on drunkenness").
2 Excavated in 1976 (M 5:802); reported: Zhongguo 1980,
59-63.
3 Bagley 1987, 412 - 420.
andjue). The ring foot elevates the elongated oval
bowl, which in turn extends upward in one direction
to form a large trough pouring spout. The
loop handle affixed opposite the spout allows a user
to direct and control the flow of liquid, possibly
cradling the spout with one hand while manipulating
the handle with the other. The lid fits tightly
over the rim, sealing in warmth and keeping the
liquid free of contamination, while allowing the
contents to breathe through open teeth in the
tiger's head.
This vessel and others like it in collections
outside China have been celebrated, and rightly
so, for their astute design, in which two animals are
placed back-to-back, their bodies extending from
the two ends of the lid down to the ring foot. 3 A
tiger forms the front of the gong; its squared head,
with standing ears, relief eyes, and bared fangs, is
rendered on the vessel's lid. The feline's body occupies
the front half of the vessel proper (spout and
bowl), its limbs raised in relief, the rear paw and
curling tail hanging down onto the foot. At the
rear of the gong, an owl with pointed beak and large
eyes stares up from the lid; its body is suggested
with wings on the rear of the bowl and legs that
run down onto the foot. As with the owl-shaped zun
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