Research About The Casting System Of Chu-style Ritual Bronzes Which Were Excavated In Xiangyang

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, Xiangyang District had long been under the rule of Nuo State and Deng State. When it came to Spring and Autumn Period, Chu State took Deng’s place so that the district then become one of Chu’s city, affecting deeply by Chu culture. As the Archaeological work had gone forward in recent decades, it had brought many chu rombs into our sights, such as Shengang cemetery、Yugang cemetery、Shanwan cemetery、Tuanshan cemetery、chenp cemetery and so on. There unearthed a series of Chu-style ritual bronze which were casted in such a period that can be divided into six parts started from the meta-phase Spring and Autumn Period to the late Warring States Period. The first part was the meta-phase Spring and Autumn Period,the second was the forepart of late Spring and Autumn Period, the third was the late period of late Spring and Autumn Period, the fourth was the early Warring States Period, the fifth was the late period of early Warring States Period,and the last was from the mid-period of Warring States Period to late period of Warring States Period.The unearthed ritual bronzes of the Chu’s style in Xiangyang Disctrict were deeply influenced by Chu culture that the shape of the unearthed objects concluded more water vessle than wine vessel. All of the shape’s change and development conformed to the traits of Chu style ritual bronze summarized by Liu Binhui. However, the contained wall of the most of unearthed objects were thin and with no emblazonment as the rank of the tombs were normal.The emblazonments on this district’s utensils were mainly of repeated unit emblazonment. The basic types were panchiwen、panhuiwen,in the third part S-shape emblazonment were common. And the decoration methods of the emblazonments were divided into casting pattern、inlaid pattern、chisel and carve pattern and so on. Chisel and carve pattern and inlaid pattern appeared in the forth and were concentrated showed on the unearthed ritual bronzes from Chenpo M10 in the sixth part.The inscriptions on the objects were simple and the ritual bronzes with inscription were scarce for the low social status of the tomb owner.Chu style ritual bronzes unearthed in Xiangyang District were casted or forged. The accessories of the objects were primarily casted individually, and then casting or welding to the main body of the objects. Mold changed according to different shapes of the objects. The main mold of ding were seperated to three belly mold and one round base mold. Otherwise when the size of same object extended to such extent, the number of belly mold may increased. Considering the recent scientific detection results of the unearthed ritual bronzes in this district, it was clear that the unearathed ritual bronzes from Chenpo M10 in late Warring State Period were contained copper、lead and tin. The casted bronzes were mainly contained more lead than tin while the forging ones contained more tin than lead. The REE distribution pattern of the clay mould residues excluded the possibility that they were casted in Panlongcheng or Houma District and hinted the possibility of local casting. And the content’s distinction of major element showed that this batch of bronzes may come from different casting workshops.