Chinese ritual bronze vessel

mid 9th Century BC

Gallery 14, Chinese Art

Ritual bronze vessels

Bronze vessels were cast in large numbers by the rulers and leading families of the ancient Chinese states during the Shang (c.1700BC – c.1050BC) and Zhou (c.1050BC – 771BC) dynasties.

Bronze was a symbol of power. The bronze vessels played an important role in early Chinese society as elements in the ritual ceremonies of worship and sacrifice to the Gods and the Ancestors. These ceremonies were an important part of the lives of the nobility: they preserved the relationships between men and the Ancestors, ensuring the protection and well-being of those who performed them. Bronze vessels were used in sets which included wine, food, and water vessels. They were frequently placed in the tombs with the dead, perhaps to allow them to continue after their death the rituals they perfomed when they were alive.

Production of the bronzes

The main method of production was casting using moulds, rather than methods such as hammering sheet metal or the lost wax process. First, a model of the object is made out of clay. A clay mould is then fitted around the model in several sections. A core (perhaps the original model scaled down) is placed in the centre of the assembled mould pieces. The decoration could be carved in reverse or impressed onto the inside surface of the model or directly onto the moulds. Vessels were frequently cast in a single pouring, many of them upside-down with one of the legs serving as a channel to pour the molten bronze.