Zuxin You

Zuxin You, bronze ware, late Shang Dynasty, 25.5 cm in height, 3 kg in weight. It was unearthed in Chuqiu, Huixian County, Henan Province in 1965 and is now in the collection of Henan Museum.

In September 1965, farmers in Chuqiu Township, Huixian County, Henan Province found Zuxin You while plowing the land. After being mobilized by the comrades of Xinxiang Museum at that time, it was handed over to the public and collected by Xinxiang Museum at the end of that year. In 1997, it was approved by the Henan Provincial Government and transferred to Henan Museum by the original collection unit.

Zuxin You is divided into two parts, the lid and the body, and the overall plane is oval. The lid has an oval arc top, a six-petal bud-shaped button in the middle, and the periphery is folded to form a mother mouth; the body of the vessel is straight, with a narrow neck, symmetrical semi-rings on both sides of the neck, arc-shaped handles inside the ring, bulging belly drooping, round bottom, ring foot, and wide folded edges at the bottom.

The decoration on the body of the vessel can be divided into eight parts: the lid button, lid top, lid fold, neck, upper abdomen, middle and lower abdomen, ring foot and handle. The whole body is decorated with four door ridges from the lid to the foot vertically, and the decoration between the two door ridges can be an independent decorative belt. The six-petal bud lid button is decorated with a small cicada pattern on each petal; the lid top and the middle and lower abdomen are decorated with the same large standing bird pattern with cloud and thunder pattern background. The lid top is decorated with four large standing birds with the four door ridges as the boundary, and they are arranged in two groups with the left and right door ridges as the center. The lower abdomen of the vessel is decorated with eight large standing birds with the four door ridges as the boundary, and they are arranged in four groups with the four door ridges as the center; the lid fold and the ring foot are decorated with the same four long-tailed bird patterns with cloud and thunder pattern background with the four door ridges as the boundary, and they are arranged in two groups with the front and rear door ridges as the center. Two groups; the neck is decorated with four large Kuilong patterns with cloud-thunder patterns and ground patterns, with the left and right door edges as the center, and two pairs of them are opposite; the upper abdomen is evenly decorated with corrugated patterns with the four door edges as the boundary; the outer side of the handle is decorated with four Kuilong patterns with cloud-thunder patterns and ground patterns from the head to the center, with the corresponding part on the lid button as the center, and the inner side is evenly decorated with ring belt patterns, with two three-dimensional animal heads at both ends; the front of the exaggerated door edges on the left and right sides of the lid fold is decorated with a large cicada pattern; the outer bottom of the vessel is decorated with grid patterns (Figure 1). There are two characters "Zuxin" engraved on the inside of the lid and the bottom of the vessel.

Figure 1 Grid pattern on the bottom of the vessel Figure 2 Inscription inside the lid

Zuxin You has a unique shape and exquisite patterns, which not only shows the gorgeousness of the vessel itself and the nobility of the user, but also reflects the exquisite design level of the craftsman who made the vessel. The bronze vessels with handles or chains are mostly designed with the front and back as the center, while the design center of Zuxin You is four centers: front, back, left and right. This is mainly because the handle of Zuxin You is placed in the opposite position to the handle of mainstream bronze vessels, that is, the handle of Zuxin You is placed vertically. In order to coordinate the visual discomfort caused by this change, the maker carefully designed the layout of the decoration in two ways: vertical and horizontal. That is, when the handle is placed vertically and the vessel is placed horizontally, the decoration of the lid fold, abdomen and ring foot is composed with the door edge where the animal head of the handle is located as the center line (Figure 3); when the handle is placed horizontally and the vessel is placed vertically, the decoration of the lid top, neck and abdomen is composed with the door edge where the expanded door edge is located as the center line (Figure 4). No matter which door edge is used as the center line, the decoration is finally visually very coordinated and has a center to rely on. These are enough to reflect the extremely high aesthetic taste and design level of the maker.

Figure 3: The handle is placed vertically and the object is placed horizontally. Figure 4: The handle is placed horizontally and the object is placed vertically.

The fit between the handle and the neck half ring of Zuxin You, the big-horned animal head, the developed door ridge, and the exquisite three-layer floral decoration all indicate that the bronze casting technology in the late Shang Dynasty had reached a very high level. The obvious mold casting marks on the door ridge indicate that the lid and body of the vessel were cast using the method of four-part mold, and the use of the handle with a developed animal head on bronze vessels and the obvious mold-dividing marks on the animal head indicate that the handle was cast after the body was cast and then cast again, which is a great technical progress compared to the previous one-casting method.

Therefore, Zuxin You is an artistic treasure among the bronze vessels of Shang and Zhou dynasties and an important representative of the progress of bronze casting technology.