Bronze Ware in the Western Zhou Dynasty

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The Zhou clan, growing up in the northwestern regions, established the Zhou Dynasty after defeating theShang Dynasty under Emperor Wuwang in 1046 BC. Several nobles, who associated with the then ethic group Quan Rong, captured the capital Haojing and killed Emperor Youwang of the Zhou Dynasty in 771 BC. The nearly 300-year-long period starting from Emperor Wuwang to Emperor Youwang is called the Western Zhou Dynasty in Chinese history.

The bronze art achievements of the late Shang directly followed into the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Consistent with the Shang Dynasty, bronze ware was still deemed as symbols of regime and theocracy. With the change of political system and auxiliary religious rites, the spiritual connotation of the Western Zhou’s bronze culture experienced crucial and essential changes.

At the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, one of the important political measures adopted was the practice of fiefdoms. The basis for fiefdoms is the kin-tied patriarchal clan system with the lineal eldest son succession as the core concept. The patriarchal clan system defines the hierarchy and succession relationship, the rights and duties of the then noble class, consisting of the emperor, nobles, ministers and scholar-officials.

Westerm Zhou. Tianwang Gui 24.2cm high, spout diameter 21cm, standing border 18.5cm long. It is said Tianwang Gui was unearthed from Qishan, Shaanxi during the reign of Emperor Daoguang(1782-1850), Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Kept in the National Museum of China. It has an inscription of 77 Chinese characters, recording the event of the Emperor Wuwang of the Zhou Dynasty defeating the Emperor of Shang.

Rites and music systems closely echoed the patriarchal clan system. The aim of promoting rites and music was to “harmonize through music and order through rites”amongst the nobles.

Ritual and musical bronze ware of the Western Zhou Dynasty, as the carriers of the then patriarchal clan system and the musical and ritual system, were rigidly restricted to the user’s position and rank in varieties, size and quantity. For instance, according to ancient records, in the Western Zhou’s ritual ceremonies, the Ding, which had a core position of various bronze ware, the Emperor could use nine, the nobles seven, the scholar officials five and the scholar three.

Westerm Zhou. Chunhua Big Ding 122cm high, spout diameter 83cm, and weighs 226kg. Unearthed from Chunhua county, Shaanxi in 1979. Kept in Chunhua County Museum. The largest bronze Ding of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Since the bronze ritual ware had the function of identifying hierarchy, those used by emperors and nobles became the symbols of the country and the regime. As a result,a victorious nation not only looted the wealth of the defeated nation and captured its fiefdoms but also took away the bronze ritual ware out of the losing countiy’s ancestral temple. It was the so-called “destroying its ancestral temple and taking away its vital bronze ware”in the ancient books.

Westen Zhou. Zhe Gong 28.7cm high,38cm long, and weighs 6.7kg. Discovered in Fufeng county, Shaanxi in 1976. Kept in Zhouyuan Cultural Relics Administration. The cap and vessel share the same inscription of four lines totaling 40 Chinese characters, recording the noble Zhe was awarded by the Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty because of his merits and made the vessel for his father Yi.

Different from the Shang Dynasty’s fashion of “leading the people to offer sacrifices to deities and paying higher respect to ghosts than rituals,”the Zhou Dynasty’s people paid higher respects to rites and “stayed at a respectful distance from deities.”Under such social influence，the bronze ware cast in the Zhou Dynasty gradually evolved to become more common and more practical，presenting a solemn art style instead of the eerie and mysterious color in the previous dynasty.

Western Zhou.Bronze Square Kettle 49cm high.Excavated from the Guoguo tomb，Sanmenxia，Henan Province in 1990.Kept in Henan Cultural Relics Research Institute.

Extant bronze ware of the Western Dynasty was mainly unearthed in Zhouyuan prefecture（between Qishan and Fufeng counties，Shaanxi Province），cradle of the Zhou clan，and Fengjing and Haojing（on both sides of Feng River in Chang’an County，Shaanxi Province），which were capitals of the dynasty.Most of them were ware used by nobles and ministers.A great number of those，possibly buried by nobles on their hurried escape during social turmoil，were excavated from cellars.Many bronze ware were awarded by the emperor，exchanged among kingdoms or cast by themselves were unearthed in the regions of kingdoms.The evolution of the Western Zhou Dynasty’s bronze art experiences rose and fell.Some key representative work mostly appeared in the early and late period.The works in the early Zhou Dynasty were quite similar to the ware in the late Shang Dynasty in the aspect of varieties，shapes，patterns and accessories.

Only individual ware and patterns have differences.In addition，bronze ware always had long inscriptions on the surface in this period，which is considered an outstanding feature of the bronze ware from the Western Zhou Dynasty.

During the middle period from Emperor Muwang（976-922 BC）to Emperor Yiwang（885-877 BC），there were great changes in the types，shapes and patterns.The popular wine vessels gradually disappeared and other items changed.Utensils became dominant，and chimes were used as instruments.The curled，ripple and ribbon pattern and other abstract designs replaced the Shang Dynasty’s Taotie（a mythical ferocious animal）image and Kuilong（one-legged monster in a fable）dragon pattern，took the dominant theme.Bronze ware in this period is regarded as the transformation from the Shang to Zhou in quality and style，highlighting its style and features of the time.However，the decline of the state power and the patriarchal clan system also had a negative influence to the ritual ware，resulting in a pervasive poor production.

At the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty，society was under intense turmoil with fierce internal and external contradictions.The Zhou court lost its influence and authority，which led to its demise.Although bronze ware cast in this period showed a last brilliance with some famous heavy ware and long inscriptions with immense historic value，the impression of them to the later generations was an illusion due to the weak economy, spiritual strength and the previous efforts in craftsmanship improvement.