0ther Wine Vessels
4 min readIn addition, there were other wine vessels made of gold, silver, jade, crystal, agate and ivory which served as a symbol of wealth by the rich and the noble family.
Since the Tang and Song dynasties, even many expensive restaurants and noted prostitutes used gold or silver wine vessels to serve customers.
1) Gold and Silver Wine Vessels
Gold or silver wine vessels refer to the containers made of, or ornamented with gold or silver, such as zhi, shang, dou(ladler), zun, cup, ewer, lotus-leaf shaped cup, which are all made of gold. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there was lei(), which is like zun decorated with gold and engraved with patterns of cloud and thunder. At that time gold or silver wine vessels were closely connected to social status. In the Tang dynasty, there were some wine vessels made of gold and silver, such as baqu cup with loop handle, baling cup with loop handle, eared cup, goblet and three-legged heater. In Hejia village of Xi’ an southern suburbs, large quantities of gold or silver wine vessels were unearthed from the noble tombs of the Tang dynasty. At present, many gold or silver wine vessels are collected and storedin the Palace Museum. Among them the most famous one is a drinking cha (silver cup in the shape of tree-like canoe) made by Zhu Bishan, one of the four prestigious craftsmen in the Yuan dynasty. The aspiration for making this vessel was out of a fairy tale about an immortal taking a wooden raft flying towards the Milky Way. The design is elegant, refined and full of cultural connotation. In general, the whole piece is shaped like an ancient tree, with the middle hollow for holding wine, under the tree an old man looked uncommon and unworldly is reading a poem.
2) Jade Wine Vessels
Jade wine vessels have been taken constantly as wine vessels of top value. The vessels of this kind have a variety of patterns and shapes, such as jiao, hu, shang, jue, zhi, zun (rectangular vessel), lotus-shaped vessel, boat-shaped vessel, kettle, cup and vat. Jade wine vessels in the early days were very sacred and expensive andcommonly used in religious rituals. Thereafter their use and function was gradually expanded as gifts for friends or for celebrating birthday. As it is said, there was a black jade jar at Guanghan temple of the Yuan dynasty, which could be filled with about 30 dan of(equal to 3000 litres) wine. Craftsmen followed the original white veins in the black jade and engraved some fish and waves on it. Filled with wine, these fish became so lifelike and began to swim freely in the container. Nowadays Dushan Giant Jade Jar of the Yuan dynasty, which measures 0.7 meter high,1.35 to 1.82 meters in diameter,4.93 meters in its biggest periphery, and about 3,500 kilograms in weight, is stored up in the Chengguang hall of the Circular City right at the southwestern corner of Beihai Park in Beijing.
3) Ivory Wine Vessels
Ivory wine vessels refer to the vessels made of or ornamented with ivory. Ivorycup is made of ivory, whereas ivory zun and ivory hu are decorated with bone of elephant. Among the large amount of ivory wine vessels excavated from Yin Ruins (the relics of the Shang capital, Yin) in Anyang of Henan, the ivory cup unearthed from tombs of Fuhao of the Shang dynasty remains the most integrated. With the height of 30.3 cm, the cup is decorated with turquoises, which reflects its delicacy and magnificence. It is obvious that as early as in the Yin-Shang period the slave owners started to make delicate wine vessels with ivory. With the improvement of ivory carving, ivory wine vessels become more and more refined and delicate and there appeared wine vessels with ivory decoration. In the Palace Museum there is anivory wine vessel for an emperor of the Qing dynasty. The vessel is fully carved in high relief with beautiful scenery and characters. Such elegant and ingenious design endows the vessel with high artistic appreciation values.
4）Cloisonne Wine Vessels
Cloisonne probably first developed in Jingtai period of the Ming dynasty（1450~1456）.Its technique was from the Arab world and its product was named after its main color blue.Cloisonne wine vessels included wine pots and wine cups，they were used in feasts by the rich and powerful family.Due to its very complicated and overelaborate metalworking technique，its price was so high tha ordinary people could not afford it.
5）Fantastic Wine Vessels
They were not merely used as wine vessels，more important，they reflected from another perspective the people’s aesthetic mentality in their drinking behaviour.
These vessels had higher cultural value and social meaning.The fantastic wine vessels mainly included，boot cup，parrot cup，horn cup，animal foot cup，bird claw cup，etc.
