BBC World Histories - 08.2019 - 09.2019

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Yi Chen is curator of early Chinese collections

at the British Museum, London

MUSEUM OF THE WORLD Global history’s finest objects, curated by experts

IMAGE COURTESY OF TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM

slender scripts, bronze used to cast these

paired vessels was awarded to Zhao by

Fuchai, who must have been very happy

about the outcome of the meeting.

In fact, these vessels recall the

terminal glory of Fuchai and his state.

While he was celebrating at Huangchi with

his best troops, the neighbouring Yue

state took the chance to launch an attack

on the defenceless Wu capital. Fuchai

hurried back with his army, only to find a

broken city and the body of his heir, Prince

You. The Wu state never recovered from

this attack, and was finally annexed by the

Yue state in 473 BC, less than 10 years

after Fuchai’s triumph at Huangchi.

Though made with bronze awarded

by the Wu state, the repetitive

decorative belts on these vessels

suggest that they were cast in the Jin

state, Zhao’s home. Archaeologists

have discovered a massive foundry at

present-day Houma, Shanxi, site of the Jin

capital, where sophisticated clay pattern

blocks were used to create ritual bronze

vessels on an industrial scale. The use

of pattern blocks, which started in the

sixth century BC, marked a peak of the

‘piece mould’ casting method, a unique

tradition developed in China by 1600 BC.

Exclusively used in China and based

on advanced ceramic technology, piece-

mould casting creates voids for molten

metal by assembling cores and outer

moulds modelled on the shape of the

desired vessel. The surface decora-

tions on the cast object would have been

formed from patterns carved on the

insides of the outer moulds.

Before the development of the

pattern-block method, patterns were

carved on each outer mould. Because

moulds had to be broken after casting

to remove the object, new moulds were

required for each cast. The pattern-block

method uses master blocks with carved

patterns from which decorations can

be repeatedly transferred to as many

moulds as required. This not only greatly

increased productivity, but also enabled

the use of different combinations or

repetitions of highly elaborate surface

decorations. The intricate patterns on

the paired Cull hu, including hundreds

of interlaced dragons and snakes, are

exquisite examples demonstrating how

this casting method was used in its early

5th-century heyday.

“The new pattern-block method enabled

the use of different combinations of

highly elaborate surface decorations”

Cull hu (bronze flask)

Created by: unknown craftsman

of the Eastern Zhou dynasty,

Houma, Shanxi, China, c482 BC

Now at: British Museum,

London

Chosen by: Yi Chen

This magnificent bronze hu flask is one

of a pair known as the Cull hu, after the

surname of the donor. An identical

inscription around the outer rim of the lid

of each vessel records a historic meeting

between warlords in fifth-century-BC

China, while the elaborate decorative

belts on their bodies demonstrate the

most advanced bronze-casting technolo-

gies of the time.

The Zhou dynasty (1045–221 BC) is

widely regarded as a moral and

political golden age, a time when great

thinkers such as Confucius (551–479 BC)

and Laozi (flourished sixth century BC)

lived. However, in 771 BC the Zhou

suffered a major defeat. Its capital, Hao

• near the site of the modern city of Xi’an


• fell after an invasion by steppe peoples,
  and the court fled east to present-day
  Luoyang. Royal power waned after this
  move, and many local states, which had
  been created within the framework of the
  Zhou kingdom, rose to compete for
  territory and power.
  In 482 BC, the competing states
  gathered for an important meeting at
  Huangchi, in what’s now Henan province.
  King Fuchai (reigned 495–73 BC) of Wu
  state in eastern China successfully
  challenged for the status of supreme
  leader. Fuchai’s title ‘Han’ is mentioned in
  the inscription on these hu, as is Zhao
  Meng, an officer from Jin state, which
  hosted the meeting. According to the
  inscription, executed in beautifully

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