CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

FIG. i. Cat. 136 from above.
After Zhongguo 1980!}, 236,
fig. 176.
of Zhongshan, a state ruled by the Di, who had
entered Hebei province from the north. Such objects
are thought to have functioned as large oil
lamps. 3 The bird would thus literally have perched
in a ring of fire.
The association of birds with disks or rings
of light is an allusion to the bird (normally a raven)
that carried the sun on its course. Best known
among such stories is that of the archer Yi, who
shot down nine often suns (or birds) to save the
world from burning. 4 The myth found its way into
images, such as a banner painting from Mawangdui
that shows a black bird at the center of a red sun. 5
The image was refined over time, and during the Han
dynasty, a bird was conventionally thought to carry
the sun in its beak, as this lamp clearly illustrates.
Light, particularly the light from the sun, was
much sought after in the world after death, imagined
as a dark and mysterious place. Lamps held by
birds would presumably have brought the sun into
the tomb; mirrors (frequently metaphors for the
sun, moon, and stars 6 ) were preserved and buried
because they too brought light.
JR
1 Excavated in 1968 (M 2:3102); reported: Zhongguo i98ob:
1:261-263, fig. 176.
2 An early form of a large bird's foot mounted with a ring
was found in a third-century tomb at Shangwang in Linzi,
Shandong province. This tomb also produced a lamp in
the form of a circular tray on a stand with the lip of the
tray held in the bird's beak. See Linzi 1997, pi. 24 and color
Pi.i.
3 Sun Ji 1996, i -14. It is possible, however, that the basin
held water.
4 Birrell 1993,138 -140. For the link between suns and birds
see Allan 1991,19-56.
5 Allan 1991, 36; Major 1993,159 -161.
6 Brashier 1995, 201 - 229.
407 | ROYAL TOMBS AT LINCSHAN