Guo Zhongyu

Guozhong Hu, bronze, Western Zhou cultural relic, 24.3 cm in height, 30 cm in length, 20 cm in width, unearthed from M2009, Guo State Cemetery, Sanmenxia, ​​Henan Province in 1991, now in the collection of Guo State Museum, Sanmenxia, ​​Henan Province.

In 1991, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and the Sanmenxia Cultural Relics Team jointly excavated a large Western Zhou tomb (numbered M2009) at the Guo State Noble Cemetery in Shangcunling [1]. The tomb unearthed a large number of artifacts and was rated as one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in China in 1991. A total of 44 bronze artifacts with inscriptions were unearthed from Tomb M2009, of which 40 artifacts were inscribed with inscriptions that Guozhong had made them for himself, and 4 large bronze Hu artifacts were made for others. The bronze hu is oval-shaped, with a slightly narrowed mouth, a bulging belly and a ring foot. It has two ears with animal heads, an arc-shaped gap in the middle of the ring foot, a raised lid that can be removed, and four unconnected wing-shaped buttons. The buttons are decorated with a Kuilong pattern looking back, and the edge of the lid, the edge of the mouth and the ring foot are decorated with S-shaped curved patterns. The top of the lid and the belly of the vessel are decorated with tile ridge patterns. There are 14 characters on the lid and the bottom of the vessel: "Guo Zhong (Zhong) Zha (made) Guo Si (Fei) a treasure hu, which will be used forever by descendants." (Figure 1, Figure 2) Zhong means Zhong, which is the ranking, and "Guo Zhong" is the maker of the vessel. Si is the same as Fei. Guo Fei should be a woman with the surname Fei who married into the Guo State and was the owner of the vessel. The vessels belonging to Guo Fei were buried in Guo Zhong's tomb, indicating that the relationship between the two must have been very close.

Figure 1 Guozhong Hu and its inscription

Figure 2 Bottom of Guozhong Hu

In the "Three Dynasties Bronze Inscriptions" written by Mr. Luo Zhenyu, there is a Guozhong Li, with a 17-character inscription cast on the inner wall of the neck: "Guo Zhong made Guowei Zun Li, which will be treasured forever by his descendants for thousands of years" (Figure 3). It is similar to the inscription on the Guozhong Hu unearthed from Tomb M2009, and the style of the artifact is the same. It should be made by the same person at the same time, and it should be a late Western Zhou artifact.

Figure 3 Guozhong Li

The owner of Tomb M2009, "Guo Zhong", was a famous figure in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. He was a minister of King Li of Zhou at the time. He assisted King Li in the southern expedition to Huaiyi, which caused a riot among the people. He was called a favorite minister in history books. His courtesy name was Guogong Changfu, and he was posthumously named Guoligong after his death.