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Splendid ornate bronze Shang era wine vessel
May 10, 2009, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Chinese developed a taste for alcoholic beverages at least 3,500 years ago when their ancestors learned to brew yellow wines (huang jiu) from rice, millet and wheat, not grapes as was the case in most other parts of the world.
Unlike distilled liquor, these wines contained less than 20 percent of alcohol and showed tints of beige, yellowish-brown and reddish-brown.
Archaeological findings indicate that wine drinking was high fashion in the Shang (c.16th century-11th century BC) and Zhou (c.11th century-256 BC) dynasties.
Many ornate bronze wares from these eras were used for drinking and ritual ceremony. Fu Yi Gong is a fine such example.
Cast in the late Shang Dynasty, this animal-motif decanter is 29.5 centimeters in height and 4.8 kilograms in weight. Like many bronze pieces of its period, Fu Yi Gong is covered with abstract animal pattens of rabbit, sheep, snake and phoenix.
It has a graceful body and a handle that allows the thumb to press open the mouth-like lid.
This serving vessel was embossed with three Chinese characters that appeared to be the name of its original owner.
Ma Chengyuan, the late Shanghai Museum curator and expert on ancient bronzes, believed Fu Yi Gong was found in red-soil Hunan Province, based on its sheeny patina distinguishing it from the mottled shades of oxidation normally found in bronzes excavated in central Henan Province, heartland of the Shang Dynasty.
Ma estimated that Fu Yi Gong had been buried as an offering to a mountain god or river god, therefore it was not contaminated by various objects that were usually placed in a tomb in those days.
Unlike distilled liquor, these wines contained less than 20 percent of alcohol and showed tints of beige, yellowish-brown and reddish-brown.
Archaeological findings indicate that wine drinking was high fashion in the Shang (c.16th century-11th century BC) and Zhou (c.11th century-256 BC) dynasties.
Many ornate bronze wares from these eras were used for drinking and ritual ceremony. Fu Yi Gong is a fine such example.
Cast in the late Shang Dynasty, this animal-motif decanter is 29.5 centimeters in height and 4.8 kilograms in weight. Like many bronze pieces of its period, Fu Yi Gong is covered with abstract animal pattens of rabbit, sheep, snake and phoenix.
It has a graceful body and a handle that allows the thumb to press open the mouth-like lid.
This serving vessel was embossed with three Chinese characters that appeared to be the name of its original owner.
Ma Chengyuan, the late Shanghai Museum curator and expert on ancient bronzes, believed Fu Yi Gong was found in red-soil Hunan Province, based on its sheeny patina distinguishing it from the mottled shades of oxidation normally found in bronzes excavated in central Henan Province, heartland of the Shang Dynasty.
Ma estimated that Fu Yi Gong had been buried as an offering to a mountain god or river god, therefore it was not contaminated by various objects that were usually placed in a tomb in those days.
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