CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

83
Bronze fangding vessel
Height 17.8 (7)
Middle Western Zhou Period, c. late tenth -
early ninth century BCE
From Zhuangbai, Fufeng, Shaanxi Province
Zhou Yuan Administrative Office of Cultural Relics,
Fufeng, Shaanxi Province
that show them to have been commissioned by the
grandson of a minister who served King Gong,
putting their date of manufacture about the time of
King Xiao (r. c. 8727-866 BCE). Although relatively
rare on Western Zhou bronze vessels, the wave
pattern proved to be very influential in later bronze
ornamentation, especially during the Spring and
Autumn period (770-476 BCE). S Its distinctive pattern
of continuous lines marked a shift away from
designs symmetrically arranged along a vertical axis
(where two pieces of a mold joined) toward the sort
of flowing design that encircles later Chinese
bronze vessels. ES
1 For this bell see Shaanxi 1980, 2: no. 54; the bell inscription
is translated in Falkenhausen i993b, 41-43.
2 For the date of the Shisannian Xing hu, see Shaughnessy
1991, 255 n. 70.
3 For the date of the Xing xu, see Shaughnessy 1991,
261 n. 81.
4 Excavated in 1976 (32); reported: Shaanxi I978b.
5 See Rawson 1990, part 1:91: "The wave pattern, with its
insistent impression of movement created by the continuous
line, and broad areas of texture created by concave or
relief bands, had an impact such as none of the earlier
designs had achieved."
This ding vessel 1 is certainly the most eccentric
of all the bronze vessels found in Hoard i. The
cauldron itself is oblong in shape, roughly similar
to several cauldrons from the reigns of Kings Mu
(r. c. 956-918 BCE) and Gong (r. c. 917-900 BCE),
such as the Dong fangding jia, recovered from a
Middle Western Zhou period tomb at Zhuangbai,
and the Fifteenth-year Jue Cao ding. The climbing
dragons at the corners turn their heads (crowned
by two prominent bottle-horns) away from the
vessel. The creatures at the corners of the square
base extend into the vessel's legs; they are chimerical
beasts, with "eyes resembling those of a monkey,
a beak like that of an eagle, curling horns like those
of a ram, and a neck like that of a deer." 2 The hollow,
square base would have held combustible
materials to cook or warm the contents of the cauldron
above it; at either end are windows that serve
a utilitarian function as well as a decorative one
by providing air for the fire within. The most striking
feature of the ding, however, is the "gatekeeper"
figure, which serves as a latch to close the two doors
at the front of the base. He is portrayed naked, in
a kneeling position, with his left foot amputated.
Two other known bronze vessels from the Western
Zhou period also feature images of a gatekeeper
with an amputated foot or leg. One, in the Palace
Museum in Beijing, resembles the vessel featured
here, but the gatekeeper (whose left leg is amputated
at the knee) is portrayed standing, supporting
himself with a cane in his left hand. 3 The other
gatekeeper vessel, a model of a cart (perhaps a
toy) discovered in 1989 in Wenxi county (Shanxi
province), is even more fanciful than the Zhuangbai
ding: the gatekeeper clings to one side, while four
birds and a monkey perch on the roof of the cart,
246 BRONZE ACE CHINA