Bronze ware: He ci si fu

He ci si fu, Spring and Autumn Period, bronze, total height 19.5 cm, mouth length 29.2 cm, mouth width 23.3 cm, foot height 3 cm. Weight 6.1 kg. Unearthed from Xiasi Tomb No. 8, Xichuan, Henan in 1978. Now in the collection of Henan Museum.

There are two He ci si fu[1], unearthed from Xiasi Tomb No. 8, Xichuan, Henan in 1978, M8:3. The vessel is well preserved, with only one side of the upper lid slightly damaged. Rectangular, large mouth, straight rim, oblique belly, flat bottom. There is a short straight wall under the rim of the copper fu, and four animal head buckles are set on the rim of the lid. There is an animal head-shaped vertical ring ear at each end of the oblique belly. The rectangular foot is trumpet-shaped and outward-slanting, with a fruit leaf-shaped space between the four feet. The surface of the vessel is decorated with coiled snake patterns. There are inscriptions on the bottom and the top of the lid, and the content is basically the same, except that the bottom inscription has one more "ji" character than the lid inscription. The lid inscription has four lines, 6-9 characters per line, a total of 30 characters, and two repeated characters (Figure 1). The inscription is now explained as follows: On the first day of the first lunar month, Yi Hai, Bi Sun He Ci made a 飤簠 by himself. His eyebrows are long-lived and boundless, and his sons and grandsons will always use it. The bottom inscription has four lines, 7-10 characters per line, a total of 30 characters, and two repeated characters (Figure 2). The inscription is now explained as follows: On the first day of the first lunar month, Yi Hai, Bi Sun He Ci made a 飤簠 by himself. His eyebrows are long-lived and boundless, and his sons and grandsons will always use it.

Figure 1 He Ci 飤簠 lid inscription

Figure 2 He Ci 飤簠 bottom inscription

Bi Sun He Ci, "He Ci" should be a person's name. The "Bi Sun" before "He Ci" may be related to the Bi family. The Bi family of the Zhou Dynasty originated from Bi Gong Gao, and originated from King Wen. The Zuo Zhuan, Duke Xi's 24th year, said: "Guan, Cai, Ying, Huo, Lu, Wei, Mao, Dan, Gao, Yong, Cao, Teng, Bi, Yuan, Feng, Xun, are the descendants of King Wen." The commentary of Gu Ming quoted Shi Ben: "Bi and Mao are the concubines of King Wen." The Bi family got their surname from the fiefdom. The Records of the Grand Historian: The Family of Wei said: "Gao was granted the fiefdom of Bi, so he took the surname Bi." The Zuo Zhuan, Duke Xi's 24th year, Du Yu's note: "The State of Bi is in the northwest of Chang'an County."