CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

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and from Yangzhou in Jiangsu province. The use
of southern Chinese object forms and decorative
motifs is likely a reflection of the political climate:
the Qin state had conquered the Chu state (the
dominant power in central southern China and the
heart of the lacquer industry) and had pushed the
king and his entourage eastward to found the Eastern
Chu state. The Liu family — the founders of the
Han dynasty — came from this state, and brought
with them the practices of their own region in the
south and southeast to the seat of the court at
Chang'an (present-day Xi'an).
The placement of these vessels in the beautifully
prepared back chamber implies that the pieces
were intended for the king's personal use; the
inscription itself, which makes no mention of
ancestor ceremonies but rather explains that these
sumptuous vessels, containers for wine, will bring'
pleasure in a long or even eternal afterlife, suggests
considerable changes in the manner in which
offerings were presented to the ancestors. JR
1 Excavated in 1968 (M 1:5015); reported: Zhongguo 1980!},
1:43-48.
2 See Xiao 1972, 49 - 52; Dien 1985,1087 -1090.
3 Translation after Dien 1985.
4 Hunan 1973, fig. 26.
Bronze foot in the shape of a bear standing
on top of a bird
Height 11.6 (4 3 / 8 )
Western Han Dynasty, late second century BCE
(c. 113)
From the tomb of Liu Sheng at Lingshan,
Mancheng, Hebei Province
Hebei Provincial Museum, Shijiazhuang
This small bronze shows a four-legged beast standing
on the wings of a bird. 1 The extraordinary creature
appears to be some sort of feline or bear but a
female in any event, with a large protruding (perhaps
pregnant) belly and pendulous breasts. The
right arm is raised to scratch behind its right ear,
while the left arm is pushed down and braced
against the knee. The creature appears to crouch
on the back of a resting bird; one foot rests on the
joint of the bird's wing, while the other rests on the
body of the bird, which faces forward and has a
large beak, round eyes, and two earlike extensions.
The bird's long wings are drawn backward, and from
behind rises a plume or tail that seems to have eye
decoration, referring perhaps to a peacock.
The image of one creature standing on a bird
or another creature is readily linked with large
wooden lacquered sculptures from the Chu state.
In examples from late Chu tombs (third century
BCE), such as that at Yutaishan, Jiangling, Hubei
province, birds stand on crouching felines. The
birds often have wings of antlers (see cat. 118), and
appear to be guardian figures.
A variant on this Chu motif appears in an
ornament from the tomb of Dou Wan: a bird
(which would originally have held a pair of tubular
cups behind its wings) stands on a small feline.
This shape was developed directly from another
Chu type — a double cup supported by a bird, such
as that found in the Chu tomb at Baoshan. 2 It is
possible that this bronze is a variant on this theme.
Here the feline and bird have been reversed in
position, but they retain the motif of an upright
creature standing on a crouching one.
400 EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA