CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

ii4
Lacquer cabinet and vessels
Height 19.6 (7 5 / 8 ), length 71.5 (28), width 25.6 (10)
Middle Warring States Period, c. second half of
the fourth century BCE (before 316)
From Baoshan, Jingmen, Hubei Province
Jingzhou Prefecture Museum, Hubei Province
This cabinet is composed of a body and lid of
nearly identical dimensions. 1 Its two short sides
are decorated with animal masks, discernible only
by their eyes and ears. Carved volutes, supporting
the bottom of the chest, probably represent the
animals' claws. On the lid, scrolling relief decoration
(which may represent the scales of the animals'
skin), is repeated in two wide bands that cross at
right angles.
The handles, protruding from both sides of the
chest at corresponding positions on the lid and the
body, suggest the snouts of zoomorphic animals.
Body and lid would have been secured with a
rope passing through the handles; such fastening
methods date back to fifth-century BCE storage
chests for cloth, such as those found in Tomb i at
Leigudun (c. 433 BCE). 2 Certainly the contents of
the cabinet would have had to be secured for travel.
Containers are grouped by their intended use
within the cabinet's three inner compartments. A
side-compartment contains two groups of four erbei
for eating and drinking; two small bottles for condiments
3 are located in the compartment opposite,
and the center holds a large plate; extra space was
probably used to set food aside. Wrapped in a
leather bag tied with leather ropes, the cabinet was
placed in the eastern chamber of the tomb, together
with most of the ritual bronzes and a large
set of containers for daily use.
Each of the containers, as well as each half
of the cabinet, was carved from a single piece of
wood — the most common (as well as the oldest)
technique of woodworkers of the period. The
manufacture of the two small bottles, whose surface
shows no trace of joinery, must have presented particular
challenges. The first step would likely have
been to carve the bottle's outer form; a hole was
then drilled down the neck and another hole cut
into one side of the object's body to permit carving
of the vessel's inner walls. 4 Once finished, the inner
surface was coated with red lacquer and the hole
in the side sealed with a piece of wood cut to size.
The other objects that compose the set are deeply
and evenly carved — testimony to improvements
in the quality of tools during the Warring States
period. The cabinet's outer surface is lacquered
in dark brown or black; red lacquer was used for
the interior. A cabinet such as this example was
a standard Chu product, as were chests for storing
swords. The same repeating scroll pattern appears
on a variety of wooden objects; here, however, the
carving is exceptionally sharp and energetically
drawn, testimony to the skills of Chu artisans. AT
1 Excavated in 1987; published: Hubei 1991,1:132-135,
and 2: color pi. 6.1 and pi. 40; Tokyo 19983, no. 38.
2 Hubei 1989,1:353 - 359.
3 The bottles are too small to contain beverages.
4 Tokyo 19983, 98.
335 | TOMB 2 AT BAOSHAN, JINGMEN