CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

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he had abundant good fortune and many
blessings.
Even horned and redly gleaming,
appropriate were his sacrifices.
Extending and even was my cultured
deceased-father!
Duke Yi was strong and bright,
obtaining purity without debts:
the agriculture was well ordered.
It is the servant filial and friendly
Scribe Qiang morning and night does not
fail;
may he daily have his merits acknowledged.
Qiang does not dare to stop,
and in response extols the Son of Heaven's
illustriously beneficent command,
herewith making this treasured offertory
vessel.
Would that his valorous grandfather and
cultured deceased father grant favor,
and give Qiang vibrant freshness,
fortunate peace, blessed wealth,
a yellowing old age, and a prolonged life
so that he may be worthy to serve his ruler.
May he for ten thousand years eternally
treasure and use it.
1 Excavated in 1976 (24); reported: Shaanxi 1978, 4.
2 The translation that follows is largely adapted from
Shaughnessy 1991, 3-4,183-192. For a reconstruction
of the rhymes and a presentation of the rhyme scheme,
see Behr 1996,199-204.
Sannian Xing bronze hu vessel
Height 65.4 (25 3 / 4 ), diam. at mouth 19.7 (7 3 / 4 )
Middle Western Zhou Period, first half of the
ninth century BCE
From Zhuangbai, Fufeng, Shaanxi Province
Zhou Yuan Administrative Office of Cultural Relics,
Fufeng, Shaanxi Province
Xing (or Wei Bo Xing, as he also referred to himself
in the bronze inscriptions) commissioned more
bronzes by far than any other member of the Wei
family. The inscription on one of his fourteen bells
discovered in Hoard i establishes that Xing was the
son of Qiang, patron of the Shi Qiang pan. 1 In addition
to these bells, Xing also commissioned at least
twenty-two other inscribed bronze vessels, spanning
the reigns of several Western Zhou kings: the earliest
of the Xing bronzes probably date to the reign
of King Gong (r. c. 917-900 BCE); the Shisannian
Xing hu (Thirteenth-year Xing hu), for example, was
probably made in 903 BCE. 2 At the other extreme, a
notation corresponding to 862 BCE probably dates
Xing's xu vessel to the reign of King Yi (r. c. 865-
858 BCE). 3
The Sannian Xing hu, or Third-year Xing hu, 4
was probably made late in Xing's life. Two aspects of
the inscription suggest that Xing was by this time
an elder — and a distinguished one at that. The
inscription commemorates two banquets at which
Xing was invited to join the king, a rare honor. More
important, it indicates that Xing's father had died
by the time of its manufacture (the vessel is dedicated
to Xing's "august grand-father and cultured
deceased-father" [huang zu wen kao]); the father
seems to have been alive when the Shisannian Xing
hu was made.
The style and especially the ornamentation of
other Western Zhou bronze vessels, moreover, corroborate
the dating of this vessel to about 870 BCE.
The Sannian Xing hu is completely decorated with
what is usually referred to as a wave pattern (boqu
wen), which also appears on the ding cauldrons
made for Ke — the Da Ke ding — and seven smaller
Xiao Ke ding. These famous vessels bear inscriptions
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