CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

pentine creatures in a style that is characteristically
Zeng. By the fourth century, pedestaled gui had
become part of the Chu repertoire of ritual vessels
and endured as a form until the states demise in
223 BCE. 4
The gui, its pedestal, and lid were originally
inlaid with turquoise, a few fragments of which still
survive in the cast-in arabesques and abstract bird
shapes. The practice of inlaying bronze vessels with
other materials began in the late seventh or early
sixth century BCE; inlays were primarily copper
during the early period, and sparing use was made
of such decoration. This vessel, by contrast, in
which turquoise was used lavishly to cover the
entire surface, is characteristic of the exuberant
decorative scheme of many of Marquis Yi's food
vessels (see cat. 94). CM
1 Excavated in 1978 (C 108); reported: Hubei 1989,1:207-
209, and 2: pis. 58:1-2. Inscribed on both the inside wall
of the vessel and on the lid: "Marquis Yi of Zeng commissioned
[this vessel]; may he possess and use it for eternity."
2 For a discussion of vessel sets, see Yu and Gao 1978 -1979;
Rawson and Bunker 1990, 37-38.
3 See, for example, the set of nine ding and li and seven gui
from Jingshan Songhequ Sujialong. Hubei 1972, 47-53
and pis. 9-10.
4 See, for example, the gui from Shouxian Zhujiaji
Lisangudui, illustrated in So 1995, 70, fig. 128.
281 ZENGHOU YI TOMB AT LEICUDUN