Bronze is a variable alloy of copper and tin, of which the major component is copper. To this alloy mix, the Chinese metalworkers added lead. The reason for the addition of lead is unclear, but it may have been to improve the pouring quality of the molten metal. This lead additive imparts a gray sheen to the finished vessel, a quality typical to most Chinese bronzes. The use of this unusual alloy seems to indicate a native understanding of smelting of metallic oxides. As all the ingredients of the alloy must be prepared separately and then combined, the separate metals would have to be found and then mixed. Since these metals were scattered in various areas of China, it is clear that they were found and acquired for the specific purpose of making bronze. Furthermore, the piece-mold method of forming the objects is distinctive. There is no evidence that metal was ever prepared by beating and, thus far, no copper vessels have been found. The Chinese either adopted or themselves arrived at the technique of casting from the start.

"What is better understood is the very complex casting process by which early bronzes were produced. This involved the working in clay of a negative model of the finished vessel, made in sections which then had to be fitted together with extreme care (even so, external 'seams' on the metal show where the sections were joined ). A clay core was then fitted into the mold, and the molten metal was poured into the space between this and the external sections to form the vessel. Finally, the external sections were dismantled, surplus metal was filed off and the object was complete." (Clunas 23)
 
 

During both the Shang and the Western Zhou, vessels and weapons together point to the dual power base on which elite domination was established. The number of vessels and weapons that were made would need a lot of metal and manpower to produce them, illustrating the power of the elites who commissioned them. By claiming that their ancestors could only be contacted and properly honored when bronze vessels were used, the elites, who were the only people that had the wealth to afford them, could keep their power base separate from the masses. "The fact that the bronzes used were vessels to hold food and drink suggests that elite feasting had been upgraded with a major investment of resources, skills and labor in the adoption of bronzes over ceramics for ritualistic activities."

Both simple inscriptions in Shang vessels and more complicated ones in the Western Zhou, point to the fact that vessels were used in banquets at which food and wine were served and offered to the ancestors. These were essentially "family" rituals in which both the living and their dead ancestors took part. In this way the deceased remained an important part of the living community and showing them respect assured that the dead would help their descendants by interceding for them before the gods or spirits. Rawson sites a quote from The Book of Odes which speaks to ancestral gatherings:

"They manage the furnaces with attentive movements; there are food-stands that are very grand; some roast, some broil; the noble wives are reverently quiet; there are dou vessels that are very numerous; there are visitors, there are guests, they pledge each other in all directions; the rites and ceremonies are entirely according to rule; the laughter and talk are entirely to the point; the divine protectors arrive, they will requite us with increased felicity; by a longevity of a myriad (years) we are rewarded." (Rawson 59)

Later bronze vessels indicate a greater variety of forms and functions. These bronzes were used outside of ancestral rites. The personal adornment of Zhou nobles seems to have been suitably decorative: belt hooks, decorated dagger handles and small swords with gold inlays were also in vogue. Scabbards were often intricately cast and sometimes contained tiny inlays of stone.

Although vessels were made to be used by living family members in ancestral rituals, they were also made as tomb fittings so that the deceased could continue to offer sacrifices even when he himself was an ancestor. Sets of vessels which have been excavated from tombs give a clear indication as to the status of the 'owner'.

Row 1: four jue (one is missing); 2: five gu; 3: two jia; 4: two zun, one you, one lei; 5: three ding, one gui; 6: one pan (top and side views), a shovel and two yan. (Rawson 348)

Row 1: four gui cast on square bases, two xu; 2: four gui cast on square bases, and two pen; 3: five li, one fu (dou); 4: four hu, three jue; 5-6: fourteen bells.(Rawson 350)

The form and style of bronze surface decoration had already appeared to some degree in earlier pottery vessels. On the lei vessel below there appears an early form of the "taotie" face.

Early Bronze Age, Lower Xiajiadian Culture (c.2000 - 1500 BCE)

Dadianzi, Aohanqi, Inner Mongolia

Early Bronze Age, Lower Xiajiadian Culture (c.2000 - 1500 BCE)

Dadianzi, Aohanqi, Inner Mongolia

Early Bronze Age, Lower Xiajiadian Culture (c.2000-1500 BCE)

Dadianzi, Aohanqi, Inner Mongolia

Erlitou Culture

Gedangtou, Yanshi, Henan Province

The principal decorative motif during the Shang period was the taotie, (taow-tee-eh) "a face that resembles but never captures the likeness of an animal. It has the features of a creature: eyes, ears, mouth, horns and claws. But the forms of these horns or claws differ from example to example, and they do not seem to belong to a specific real animal. The motif has perplexed scholars for decades." (Rawson 58) Early taotie simply consisted of eyes with scroll patterns placed around them to make a symmetrical pattern. Over the centuries, patterns became more refined and interesting. Later patterns became more complicated and the face in relief was separated from the background decoration. What is especially ingenious about the taotie design is that it could be interpreted on any shape vessel and could be elongated or constricted according to space available on a particular object.

What inscriptions are found in these vessels?

From the mid-Shang period onwards, it became customary for inscriptions to be cast into the vessel, often recording the occasion of the making of the vessel, for whom it was made and for what reason. The inscriptions are short, consisting of a few characters of a simple pictorial script.

Later inscriptions consist of extended accounts of the occasion of the making and presentation of the vessel. They are carried out in a calligraphy closely related to modern Chinese script rather than the seal script of the Shang. The information contained in these inscriptions makes these bronzes literary sources for historical study. But these inscriptions are not merely historical documents. They give evidence of a new function: that of communicating the political and social achievements of their owners. The Zhou built the basis of their power in the thinking that they were successful in their conquests because they were righteous and were given a mandate "under Heaven". This thinking was to lay the foundation for the right to power for all future ruling houses.

Techniques varied at the various foundries, but most inscriptions were prepared in a clay mold and cast from this on to the metal surface of an object. Most inscriptions are countersunk and positive which means that they are not in relief and not written in the negative.

"In order to obtain a positive inscription, the surface of the mold had to be prepared with the text in a negative form. To do this, the text was written with a stylus on a surface of wet clay. When hardened, this positive version could be pressed into a new supply of wet clay to provide a negative relief. Next, the hardened clay of the second version in negative could be trimmed and fitted as a block into an excavation on the mold core of the whole vessel. The mold and this fitting were then ready to receive the molten metal, which would re-form the inscription back into a positive appearance. This method comprises the fewest transfer operations needed to cast a countersunk, positive inscription and allows for the text to be written out freehand in the same form that it will assume in metal." (Moore 36)

The Ding-cauldrons had inscriptions on them.... The inscriber discourses about and extols the virtues and goodness of his ancestors, their merits and their zeal, their services and their toils, the congratulations and rewards (given to them),their fame recognized by all under Heaven; and in the discussion of these things on his spiritual vessels he makes himself famous; and thus he sacrifices to his ancestors. In the celebration of his ancestors he exalts his filial piety. That he himself appears after them is natural. And in the clear showing of all this to future generations, he is giving instruction. Liji, The Sacred Books of the East: The Texts of Confucianism, Part IV, Oxford, 1885, p.251 as quoted by Rawson

"Thus, for the Shang, decoration expressed the rank and prestige of the owner, while for the Zhou the inscription fulfilled this role. Whereas the vessels of the Shang were bearers of decoration, those of the Zhou were bearers of inscriptions." (Rawson 63)

Cooking vessel of the Western Zhou

Mei County, Shaanxi Province