CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

generally believed to have been one of Marquis Yi's
predecessors (probably his father or grandfather). 9
The vessel thus probably dates from the first half of
the fifth century BCE and was an heirloom when it
entered Marquis Yi's tomb.
The early date of the piece may explain how
two vessels of unrelated ritual function came to be
combined into a single unit. Although no precedent
for this combination (nor even for the zun itself as
a vessel type) is known from the Chu or Zeng repertoire
of forms, a zun-pan set has been excavated
from the tomb of Marquis Zhao of Cai (r. 518-491
BCE), a small state located between Zeng and the
southeastern states of Wu and Yue. The Cai pan and
zun bear virtually identical inscriptions stating that
they were made for the dowry of a Cai princess on
her marriage to a Wu monarch; the inscriptions
imply that the objects were made to function as
a unit. 10 Although no zun-pan combinations have
been found in Wu territory, single pan and zun were
extremely important there well into the Eastern
Zhou period; in fact, as a number of scholars have
pointed out, this was the only region where zun
survived after the middle of Western Zhou period. 11
It seems likely, therefore, that the idea of combining
pan and zun into a single, composite unit first
arose in the Cai or the Wu state and that the idea
was then briefly taken up in the Zeng state. However,
the combination does not seem to have taken
hold, either in the Zeng or the Chu state. 12 The
only other bronze vessel that could tentatively be
advanced as a derivative of Marquis Yu's zun-pan
is a vessel from a late'fourth-century BCE hoard at
Yuyi Nanyaozhuang in Jiangsu province. Although
it is conventionally identified as a hu, the vessel has
four zoomorphic handles (unusual in a hu) reminiscent
of Marquis Yu's zun, and a strange, dishlike foot
that may be a vestige of the pan, now fused with the
zun into a single vessel. CM
1 Excavated in 1978 (C 38); reported Hubei 1989,1:228-234,
figs. 127-128 and 2, color pi. 10 and plates 69-74. The
neck of the zun is incised with the inscription "Marquis
Yi commissioned [this vessel]; may he possess it and use
it for eternity." An inscription cast into the inside of the
pan reads "The [ ] vessel of Marquis Yu of Zeng." A later
incised inscription, partly obliterating the original one,
reads "Marquis Yi commissioned [this vessel]; may he
possess and use it for eternity."
2 For a discussion of the origins of this style, see So 1983,
64-71; Rawson 19873, 49-52; Mackenzie 1991,132-141;
and So 1995, 21-36.
3 The pattern-block technique differed from traditional
casting methods in that an ornament was pressed into
sections of clay, which were then set into the interior of
the vessel mold. For a full discussion of this technique,
see Bagley 1995, 46-54. For a discussion of the use of
pattern blocks in Zeng bronzes, see So 1995, 52-53.
4 See Hubei 1991,1:177.
5 For a discussion of the lost-wax method of casting in
China, see Bagley 1987, 44-45; So 1980, 266; and
Mackenzie 1991,136-139.
6 The jin was excavated from Tomb 2 at Xiasi, Xichuan Xian,
southern Henan province. See Henan 1991,126-128,
fig. 104, and pi. 49.
7 Mackenzie 1984 -1986, 31 - 48.
8 See Hubei 1991,1:28 - 45, figs. 18 - 22, for a discussion of
the motifs on the coffin.
9 See Hubei 1991,1:229-230 and note i above.
10 For a discussion of these pieces, see foreword by Tang Lan
to Wu Sheng 1958, and pi. 45 (zun) and pi. 50 (pan), 3-4.
11 See Kane 1974 -1975, 77 -107; Rawson 19873, 45 - 49.
12 The only other zun recovered from an Eastern Zhou period
Chu site is an unprepossessing funerary ceramic, completely
devoid of decoration, from Tomb 2 (fourth century
BCE) 3t Changtaigusn, Xinyang, Hensn province. See
Henan 1986, pi. 98:8.
287 ZENGHOU YI TOMB AT LEICUDUN