CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

1O1
Bronze drum stand
Height 54 (2i l A), diam. 80 (31 1 A)
Warring States Period (c. 433 BCE)
From Leigudun, Suixian, Hubei Province
Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan
Washington only
Constructed of a central tube linked to a ring base
by an openwork web, this drum stand 1 shows eight
pairs of writhing and twisting serpentine dragons
(cast in the round and originally inlaid with turquoise),
over whose torsos, tails, and heads smaller
dragons clamber in great profusion. The excavators
have identified twenty-two separately cast sections,
linked together by casting-on and by soldering
with copper and a tin-lead alloy.
A pole inserted into the tube of the stand
originally supported a barrel-shaped drum 106
centimeters wide and approximately 90 centimeters
in diameter, made of maple (pterocarya stenoptera).
(The pole had broken, and the drum had fallen to
the floor of the tomb.) The drum originally stood
approximately i meter above the stand, and the pole
protruded a further 1.5 meters above the drum. Together
with the drum itself and the stand, the total
height of the assemblage would have been almost
4 meters. Positioned at the end of the shorter arm
of the bell rack, the drum clearly formed part of
the ritual orchestra. It has been plausibly identified
with thejiangu, or "supported drum," mentioned
both in the Zhou li (Rites of Zhou) and the Yi li
(Book of ceremonial), the latter in connection with
the Great Archery Contest (Da she). 2
This type of drum is probably descended from
barrel-shaped drums, supported on small feet or
low stands, in use as early as the Shang period.
The ghost of a barrel-shaped drum, preserved in
the earth in Houjiazhuang tomb HPKM 1217, clearly
299 ZENCHOU YI TOMB AT LEICUDUN