A green glazed pottery pitch-pot was unearthed in 1969 from Tomb 8 of Sijian’gou in Jiyuan County, Henan Province. It had a slender and long neck, a bulging belly, and a flat bottom attached by three short hoof feet. The entire body was covered with green glaze except for the three feet. The middle of the neck is decorated with a circle of intaglio bow-string pattern, and its shoulder and belly with a circle of intaglio bow-string pattern and raised stripes.
As a typical kind of monochrome low-temperature glaze that used copper and iron as major colorants and compound of lead as basic flux, the green glaze on the surface of the pot started to fuse at a temperature of about 700° C, creating a clear and brilliant color.
The green glazed pottery pitch-pot in the collection of Henan Museum boasts a well-preserved body and bright glaze, which is similar to the shape described in the Book of Rites as “the neck of the pot 7 cun (a Chinese unit of length) long; its belly 5; and its mouth is 2.5 cun in diameter. It contains one dou and five sheng (both Chinese units of volumes).” One masterpiece among the Han Dynasty pottery vessels, this pot provides an important material for the study on the design and shape of the pitch-pot in the Han Dynasty.
Scholars of ancient Confucian classics believed that the game of pitch-pot was developed from the rites of archery possibly due to the spatial limitation, inadequate number of people or their inability in arrow shooting.
It was likely that the game of pitch-pot evolved from yanshe (Banquet Shooting) in ancient rite of archery. According to The Notes and Commentaries of the Book of Rites•The Game of Pitch-pot, “Banquet Shooting” corresponded with the game of pitch-pot in that the latter was performed with half time of the drum while the former was performed with full time of the drum. The fact that the game of pitch-pot was played indoors to accompany a banquet or music playing also indicated that this kind of rite was Banquet Shooting, neither dashe (Grand Shooting) nor xiangshe (District Shooting).
According to the Book of Rites • The Game of Pitch-pot, the pitch-pot is distant from the players, the length of two and a half arrows, whereas sizes of the arrows varied with the available space. The superintendent of the archery announced the rules: “When the arrow goes straight in, it is reckoned an entry. If you throw a second (without waiting for your opponent to pitch), it is not reckoned. The victor gives the vanquished a cup to drink; and when the cups of decision have been dispatched, the superintendent begs to set up what he calls 'a horse' for the victor. If he set up one horse, then a second, and finally a third, he begs to congratulate the thrower on the number of his horses.” This was later interpreted by Zheng Xuan in this way: Ma (horse) was used as the counter, which indicated that the highly skilled victor was like the general of the army while the loser was like the horse the general rode. After the game started, the guests and the host would throw the arrows in sequence. A round was concluded by the loser drinking wine. In the end, whoever won one round would need to give his “horse” to the victor who won two rounds as a symbolic congratulation.
The game of pitch-pot first appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period, reflecting the trend of simplified or even crumbled ritual and musical system at the moment.
In addition to entertaining guests, the game of pitch-pot also played a role in spreading Confucian thoughts. According to the Book of Rites•The Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery, “Anciently it was the rule for the feudal lords, when they would practise archery, first to celebrate the ceremony of the Banquet, and for the great officers and ordinary officers, when they would shoot, first to celebrate the ceremony of the Drinking in the country districts. The ceremony of the Banquet served to illustrate the relation between ruler and subject; that of the District-drinking, to illustrate the distinction between seniors and juniors.” Although the game of pitch-pot simplified the rite of archery, it helped promote the Confucian thoughts, evolved with the times and eventually stepped down from the stage of history in the Republic of China period.
The ancient game of pitch-pot had been in existence for a long time in history from the pre-Qin period to the Ming and Qing Dynasties and even the Republic of China period. Originally in the ritual form and gradually merged into the cultural background in combination with the Confucian thoughts, it helped deepen our understanding of the ancient Chinese culture. The following artifacts related to the game of pitch-pot will assist us in understanding the evolution of the game of pitch-pot.
In 1975, a pottery pitch-pot was unearthed from a tomb with human victims of Ju State in the Spring and Autumn Period in Dadian of Ju’nan, Shandong Province. It had a remaining height of 26 cm, a belly diameter of 19.8 cm and bottom diameter of 17 cm.
In 1977, a tube-shaped bronze pitch-pot with rhinoceros-shaped feet was unearthed from the tomb of Prince Zhongshan of the Warring States Period in Sanji of Pingshan County, Hebei Province, with a height of 58.8 cm and a mouth diameter of 24.5 cm.
A proto-porcelain pitch-pot with incised floral pattern dating from the Western Han Dynasty was unearthed in Shangbai of Liangpeng Town in Anji County, Zhejiang Province, with a height of 26.6 cm, a mouth diameter of 5.8 cm and a foot diameter of 9.5 cm.
The pictorial stone with relief pattern of the game of pitch-pot, dating from the Eastern Han Dynasty and in the collection of Nanyang Museum of Han Dynasty Stone Carving, Henan Province, had a height of 42 cm and a width of 131 cm.
In 1972, the reddish-yellow glazed pitch-pot with twin handles [14], 35 cm high and dating from the Tang Dynasty, was unearthed from the tomb of Li Zhen, the Prince of Yue of Tang, in Liquan County, Shaanxi Province.
In the picture of Playing Chess before Double Screens [15] that was painted by Zhou Wenju in the Five Dynasties and is now in the collection of the Palace Museum, a pitch-pot featuring a long neck, a deep belly, a flat bottom and twin handles attached to its neck was placed on the table behind the four people who were playing chess.
In the picture of Emperor Xuanzong Seeking Pleasure [16] of the Ming Dynasty in the collection of the Palace Museum, a section was dedicated to representing Zhu Zhanji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, who was playing the game of pitch-pot with his ministers.
The picture of The Game of Pitch-pot (color on paper) [17] that was painted by Ren Xiong in the Qing Dynasty, with a length of 180.3 cm and a width of 94.2 cm, is now in the collection of the National Art Museum of China.
The Painting Album of Beautiful Women in Entertainment • The Game of Pitch-pot (color on paper ) [18] painted by Yu Lan in the Qing Dynasty and with a height of 16.8 cm and a width of 22.7 cm, is now in the collection of the Palace Museum.
The above study shows the evolution in the methods of the game of pitch-pot and the design of the pot from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Republic of China. The reddish-yellow glazed pitch-pot with twin handles unearthed from Li Zhen’s tomb indicated the appearance of the twin handles on the original single-mouth pot. The pitch-pot depicted in Zhou Wenju’s painting of Playing Chess before Double Screens evolved into the pot with four handles and the rule developed from the simple “best of three” game featuring “straight entry” to as many as over 140 methods [20]. The Game of Pitch-pot painted by Ren Xiong in the Qing Dynasty represented the scene of playing the game with his back facing the pot. According to Volume Twenty of Miscellaneous Records from the Wanping County Office by Shen Bang in the Ming Dynasty, a person nicknamed Touhujue was good at playing the game of pitch-pot and could do everything other people could. He also invented tens of amazing ways of playing the game that had never been seen before. In the Painting Album of Beautiful Women in Entertainment • The Game of Pitch-pot painted by Yu Lan in the Qing Dynasty, the playful lady entertained herself by playing the game alone. A tea pot instead of a wine pot was placed on the table beside her. It indicated that in later periods, even women who had been restricted by taboos and commandments became keen on the game, which had evolved to be more than a drinker’s wager game. The game of pitch-pot not only served the political purpose of the upper class but also provided a way to entertain and amuse the ordinary people. However, the “ritual system” inherent in the game made it popular among the class of scholar-officials and restricted it from further development, resulting in its disappearance following Warlord Sun Chuanfang’s advocacy of inheriting Qing traditions by playing the game of pitch-pot during the Republic of China period.
The Book of Rites described a very complicated way of playing the game of pitch-pot, which required that the pot must be placed by a distance of two and a half arrows from the tables where the hosts and guests were seated respectively. Why was such a distance required between the pot and the players?
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The Way of Playing the Game of Pitch-pot Described in the Book of Rites
According to the Book of Rites, the game of pitch-pot was played in the following seven way:
Step I: The host invites the guests to participate in the game of pitch-pot.
Step II: The host ushers the guests to attend the banquet.
Step III: Place the pot, counters and other equipment.
Step IV: Announce the rules.
Step V: Start the game after a complicated preparatory process.
Step VI: Count the “horses” to determine the winner.
Step VII: Celebrate.
This concludes the game of pitch-pot.
