Representations of Architecture on Vessels of the Warring States Period

The period of the Warring States takes its name from seven major and some dozen additional polities that vied for power between 475 and 221 BCE when they were unified by China's First Emperor, Shi Huangdi, who established the Qin dynasty in 221. Each state or kingdom had its own ruler and its own capital. Bronze casting had emerged in China in the second millennium BCE. In the Warring States period, bronze and iron were crucial for weapons and other elements of warfare, but these were only a tiny portion of bronze objects in use at the time. In the Warring States period, most ritual bronzes were decorated, often with narrative scenes, and architecture frequently is the backdrop for those scenes. From this period when monumental architecture survives only in the form of tombs and excavation sites, the representations on bronze vessels are some of the earliest evidence of Chinese architecture.

Ancient texts tell of prosperous Warring States capitals and their beautiful palaces. Many ruins of fortified cities and high-rising building foundations from the period are extant, and their vast dimensions are consistent with historical records. However, most Warring States buildings combined earth and wood, so that it was almost impossible for them to survive the continuous warfare of the period or later natural destruction. None survives today.

A great number of large-scale architectural sites from the Warring States period have been excavated. Many are characterized by high foundations for multistory buildings; others clearly were single-story. The ruins allow us to understand certain aspects of building technology, particularly the feature known as taixie (high platform), whereby a wooden frame was built around an earthen core to provide support from underground for a tall structure. But excavation sites do not tell us what buildings looked like. However, bronze vessels with representations of architecture on them were discovered at some of the excavation sites. The combined study of their visual imagery with on-site information provides important clues about Warring States architecture. This essay is a discussion and comparative analysis of eleven bronze vessels that offer important information about Chinese architecture of the fifth through third centuries BCE.

Representations of Architecture on Warring States Bronze Vessels

Images of architecture are represented in bronze in the Shang (ca. 1600–1046) and Western Zhou (1046–770) dynasties and in larger numbers in the Warring States period. They are categorized here according to the technique used in the representation: mozhu (molding and casting), qiancuo (inlaying), zanzao (engr aving), and kehua (incising). The first two techniques are quite simple; the latter two are more sophisticated.

MOLDED AND CAST IMAGES

Two examples are especially important. The first is a wine vessel with a scene of food offering in the Palace Museum, Taibei (fig. 1.1). A two-story building stands on a platform made of stone blocks or timber joists on the outer sides and vertical columns of stone or wood evenly spaced between them, dividing the platform into twelve small compartments. Wooden balustrades approached by steps are on the sides. The first story of the building has three columns that form two bays. The upper parts of the columns bulge outward, suggesting the use of cap-blocks (ludou); longitudinal lintels (mei) are installed above, and further above are crossbeams or transverse floor joists (diban longgu) that, in turn, carry the longitudinal floor joists (dimianfang) and floor planks. Sloping "waist eaves" (yaoyan) project from all four sides of the building, and above are the balustrades of the second story. This upper story has columns only under the eaves on the front and rear sides. Cap-blocks are indicated at the column tops. The image abruptly ends here, and the roof is not depicted. The first and second stories of the building each have two entries: two double-shutter doors at the lower level and a single- and a double-shutter door at the upper level. On both floors, some people offer food whereas others are seated and drink. As a whole, the image illustrates a twostory timber frame building erected atop a platform with waist eaves installed at the top of the lower floor. The design probably corresponds to a wooden framework erected around a rammed-earth core to prevent the building from falling down. The doors probably were made of stiles (biankuang, vertical frame members), rails (motou, horizontal frame members), and panels in between.

The second bronze wine vessel has scenes of feasting and hunting. The upper part of the vessel's surface is divided into two pictorial panels, each of which has one building, divided by a decorative panel (fig. 1.2). The upper panel illustrates an architectural framework for ritual archery and mulberry picking. The building where the archery takes place is small and directly on flat ground. It has two eaves columns with cap-blocks and brackets or braces to support the roof. Single incisions indicate that the roof has a central flat top framed by downward-sloping eaves.

The lower panel is backdrop for a feast, probably a ceremonial celebration. It takes place in a building elevated on a high platform. A long flight of stairs leads to the platform on top of which one figure hunts and those in the center of the hall offer wine in a horn cup. A tray with wine vessels is next to them. The building above has only two eaves columns (only one of which is shown in the drawing) crowned with brackets parallel to the wall plane and straight wooden strips that join two pieces of purlins together (timu) to uphold the roof. The roof has diagonally...