Posted 2018/10/16
The Zhongshan State was a vassal state of northern nomadic people originally established in Baidi of northern Shaanxi around the 6th century BC. Although the state had long been under the cultural influence of the Central Plains, it retained strong cultural elements of northern nomadic minorities.
In the 1970s, archeologists successively discovered a batch of ancient tombs in Hebei Province, where a lot of bronze ware was unearthed. The most representative discovery was the royal Zhongshan tomb found in Sanji of Pingshan in Hebei. The objects excavated from the tomb include dings (an ancient cooking vessel with two loop handles and three or four legs), pots, plates, cauldrons, spoons, swords and axes etc, with many utensils having inscriptions, especially the big iron-leg ding and the square pot with one-legged-dragon patterns. Each of the two items has a long inscription carved on the surface. There are a total of 1099 characters in the two inscriptions. The discovery filled the historical blank of the Zhongshan State and made certain that the ware was made between 321 and 314 BC.
The bronze utensils of the Zhongshan State are simple and vigorous. Apart from the delicate patterns in groups, there are images of beast faces, bird heads and tiger heads adorning the utensils, with turquoises embedded in the eyes, nose and month. The E-shaped ware is unique to the bronze ware of the Zhongshan State. It was a sacrificial vessel symbolizing power. In addition, a batch of oddly shaped bronze objects was unearthed, such as the square table adorned with gold and silver dragons and phoenixes. There are four sika deer holding a circle at the bottom of the table and there are four divine dragons on the circle, with the head of each dragon looking in a different direction and a phoenix standing in each of the tail-intertwining point. The dragons are holding a table frame. The table is the most elaborate bronze object of the Warring States Period found so far. All the bronze utensils are exquisitely made and lifelike.
The most striking feature of the bronze ware of the Zhongshan State is the vivid depicting of animals. All the images of beast heads and tiger heads are dynamic and ferocious, fully reflecting the characteristics of northern nomadic people's living environment and their martial spirit.