CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

96
Pair of bronze hu jars with stand
hu: height 99 (39)
stand: height 13.2 (5 V 4 ), width 117.5 (46 ! /4),
depth 13.2 (5 ! /4)
Warring States Period (c. 433 BCE)
From Leigudun, Suixian, Hubei Province
Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan
With its highly articulated profile, sharp angles,
and heavy appendages, this monumental set of
ritual wine vessels 1 epitomizes an architectonic
approach to form characteristic of many of Marquis
Yi's bronze vessels. Two lidded hu, with detachable
"crowns," fit into circular openings in the stand
(jin). Horizontal ridges inside the vessels are evidence
that each was cast in three pours of metal. 2
The vessel handles and the supports for the stand
were cast separately and attached with a tin-lead
solder.
The set was found in the central chamber, next
to the jian-fou wine coolers (cat. 97) and the zunpan
(cat. 95). Depictions of ritual scenes on fifthcentury
BCE pictorial bronze vessels show hu, with
ladles, placed on stands or low altars; descriptions
of hu in the Yi li (Book of ceremonial) also prescribe
ladles and jin as part of the ritual paraphernalia. 3
It seems possible that the ladles placed on the
288 | CHU AND OTHER CULTURES