CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

than hammered from sheets, the conventional
method of forming vessels in precious metals in
other parts of the ancient world. 5 Casting, whether
using ceramic section-molds or the lost-wax
method, requires a more extravagant use of metal
than does hammering; the piece thus testifies to the
application of traditional Chinese bronzecasting
techniques to vessels in precious metals despite
their relative wastefulness of the metal. Hammering
was, however, commonly used to create preciousmetal
plaques. Over nine hundred such plaques,
probably appliques for armor, 6 were found in Marquis
Yi's tomb, mostly in the northern chamber;
Tomb 2 at Xiasi, Xichuan (sixth century BCE) contained
similarly hammered precious-metal plaques.
Solid gold vessels, on the other hand, are virtually
unknown in pre-Han period China, presumably
because of the material's cost. The only other excavated
piece is an oval bowl with jade handles from
Tomb 306 (early fifth century BCE) at Shaoxing in
Zhejiang province; 7 the piece is considerably
smaller, however, than Marquis Yi's bowl.
Identification of this bowl as a zhan rests on its
similarity to a bronze bowl-and-cover type identified
in their inscriptions as zhan oryu. 8 Such vessels
were important in the Chu state and apparently
were derived, over the course of the seventh century
BCE, from gui grain containers. In its new form,
the vessel assumed a more spherical shape; the gui's
massive handles were reduced in size, and the ring
foot was replaced by three small zoomorphic legs.
During the sixth century, these appendages were
often cast in openwork, as exemplified by a yu of
Chu Wang Xiong Shen (Gong Wang, r. 590-560
BCE); 9 the elaborate openwork of these sixth-century
examples shows that they were clearly important
vessels, but it is not certain whether they
continued to serve a ritual function during that
period. The placement of a gold zhan in the central
chamber of Marquis Yi's tomb, as well as the absence
of bronze forms of such vessels from the
tomb's central chamber, suggests that by the second
half of the fifth century this ritual object
had become private treasure. CM
1 Excavated in 1978 (E 2); reported: Hubei 1989,1:390-392,
figs. 242 - 243:1, and 2: color pi. 17. The objects were discovered
beneath the marquis' coffin near a gold goblet
and two gold lids that may originally have covered vessels
made of now-decomposed organic materials. Four gold
belt hooks were found within the marquis' inner coffin.
See Hubei 1989, i: 392-393 and 399, figs. 243-244.
2 A similar openwork bronze spoon was found in Tomb i at
Mashan in Jiangling Province. See Hubei 19853, pi. 33:1.
3 See Hubei 1989, i: 200, fig. 101.
4 Hubei 1989, i: 393, table 45. See Dictionary of Art, s.v.
"metalwork"; Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v. "electrum."
5 Thomas Chase states that the piece was cast, although
he cites no evidence for this (see Chase 1991,31). For
a discussion of casting versus hammering techniques,
see Bagley 1987,16 -17.
6 See Henan 1991, 203 - 208 and pis. 73 - 76; Hubei 1989,
1:390 - 399 and pis. 148 -149.
7 See Jiangsu 1984,10- 28, pi. 5:1.
8 See the Chu Wang Xiong Shenyu (Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, Accession no. 199 -165.243 - b) and the
X yu Wei (?) zhan from Yidigang, Suixian: Cheng and Liu
1983, no. i, 75, fig. 3. See Tan and Bai 1986, no. 3, 58.
9 See also an example of this type from Tomb 2 at Xichuan
Xiasi: Henan 1991, pi. 32.
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