When it comes to bronze ware, people will first think of the Western Zhou Dynasty in China. This dynasty marks the heyday of the development of bronze ware. Each piece of exquisite bronze ware tells of the ingenuity of the ancient Chinese in silence. In 1982, China issued a set of special stamps named Western Zhou Bronze Ware, a set of eight stamps in total. The selected patterns on the stamps are all treasures of the bronze ware from the Western Zhou Dynasty, including Bronze Covered Lei with a Rolling Kui-dragon and Interlaced Dragons unearthed in Kazuo County, Liaoning Province.
Fandy Zone, an international student from Indonesia, is an avid stamp collector. When studying in Liaoning, he found a stamp featuring a picture of Bronze Covered Lei with a Rolling Kui-dragon and Interlaced Dragons. The little animals on the stamp are peculiar and mysterious. He loves the stamp so much. On the fifth stop of Treasure Hunt Across Liaoning, we followed Fandy Zone into the Kazuo Museum to explore the “animal world” of bronze casting.
Stepping into the Kazuo Museum, Fandy Zone couldn’t wait to search for the bronze ware depicted on the stamp—Bronze Covered Lei with a Rolling Kui-dragon and Interlaced Dragons. Lei is a large bronze wine jar and ritual vessel used in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Fandy Zone carefully read the introduction about this Lei and scrutinized the animal shapes and patterns on it. The patterns are intricately decorated. A horned dragon curls up on the top of the cover, which seems to exert itself to leap up, like a lizard. On the top of the cover, facing the dragon’s chest and abdomen, are engraved several cicadas. Therefore, the dragon is aptly called “a dragon that eats cicadas”. Fandy Zone also observed that the shoulder position of the Lei was shallowly carved with a simplified Kui-dragon bas-relief design. Kui-dragon is an ancient divine beast in Chinese myths and legends. The Kui-dragon design on the bronze ware builds up the image of a monster with an open mouth and a curled tail. The ancient Chinese engraved it on the bronze ware to pray for favorable weather.
In the exhibition hall of bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, Fandy Zone found another oddly shaped bronze ware—Bronze Duck-shaped Zun, also unearthed in Kazuo County, Liaoning Province, which is the only piece found in China so far. While taking pictures with his cell phone, Fandy Zone curiously studied its structure and purpose. The whole body of the Bronze Duck-shaped Zun is made in the shape of a duck. It holds its head up like it’s about to quack. The round mouth of the Zun is cast on the duck’s back to hold wine. It has been proven that ducks have been domesticated in China for at least 3,000 years. This Zun is exactly the proof of this history.
“I never realized that thousands of years ago, the Chinese were able to create imaginative artifacts featuring animals. It’s just so cute!” Fandy Zone said excitedly. Actually, bronze wine vessels in the Shang and Zhou dynasties can be seen in a variety of forms modeled after animals, such as an elephant, tiger, ox, sheep, phoenix, monster and so on. It shows the high level of bronze ware casting in that period.
From 1941 to 1978, there were totally 61 pieces of bronze ware unearthed in Kazuo, Liaoning, dating from the late Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty. “These bronze wares seemed to bring me to the ‘animal world’ of 3,000 years ago. The romantic imagination and extraordinary creativity of the ancient Chinese are amazing, and this marvelous treasure hunt is awesome!” Fandy Zone said.
