Unearthed From The Shang And Zhou Bronze Wine Container

Bronze you is one of the main wine containers in Shang and Zhou dynasty ,and plays an important role in ritual vessels. 157 bronze you which are excavated and 59 bronze you which are handed-down are collected . They are classified into four periods and five areas based on the typology. Bronze you ,in Shang Dynasty ,are prevalent in Zhengzhou and Anyang city of Henan province nowadays. In early period of Westzhou Dynasty ,they are prevalent in Baoji and Xi'an city of Shanxi provience nowadays.From middle period of Westzhou Dynasty on, bronze you go downhill,and are replaced by bronze loop handle hu .From Mu-gong period to Spring and Autumn period,they appears in the Hunan,Anhui, Guangxi provience in the form of imitation.Through the tombs which buries objects are complete ,bronze you assemble bronze lei ,bronze hu ,bronze gu ,bronze jue ,bronze jia, one by one in the middle and small tombs ,and assemble bronze zun from late period of Yinxu ruins in the large and middle tombs.According to the inscriptions and historical documents, it is used in sacrifice. The design of bronze you in Shang dynasty are animal mask ,in Westzhou dynasty especially Cheng-kang period are bird design.Because of the Shang people worshiping god , attaching important to wine vessels, and their casting bronzes technique improved ,Bronze you appeared in the up-layer of Erligang culture. Their shape comes from the pottery two handles hu It is the reason that bronze you and bronze loop handle hu are confused easily. According to the bronze loop handle hu which has inscription of "hu"character,31 bronze loop handle hu which are excavated and 18 which are handed-down are collected and classified.On the base of typology ,their shape, design and usesage are defined Its shape copies painted pottery bottle made of fine clay .Bronze you influence the design and useage of bronze loop handle hu from late period of Shang Dynasty to early period of Westzhou Dynasty, so it is not easy to differentiate between Bronze you and bronze loop handle hu .From Cheng-kang period ,bronze loop handle hu is mainly used as water vessel and decorate with " + "character,which are different from that of bronze you .