The Title of Female Nobles in the Western Zhou Dynasty
In the Zhou Dynasty, the family names were exclusive to the noble class and were a symbol of noble status. The family name for males was called Shi and used to indicate his family origin and social status while that for females was called Xing and used to indicate marital status. They should not be misused.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were two types of titles for female nobles: those used by themselves and those used by other people.
In the female self-addressing titles, the most important was the patriarchal family name that should not be omitted. For instance, “Xu Ji Zuo Jiang Hu Lv Li”, “Guo Ji Zuo Li”. The most complete female self-addressing title in the inscriptions on the ancient bronze wares was “husband’s Shi name + given name + patriarchal Shi name + seniority among brothers and sisters + patriarchal family name”, such as “Wang Fu Qi Meng Jiang Zuo Lv Yi” meaning a female from Qi State with the family name of Jiang married to King of Zhou as a concubine.
In most cases, the patriarchal family name was also included in the titles that other people used to address a female. For instance, “Su Ye Ren Zuo Guo Ji Yu Mu Ying Ding” indicated that a wife of a noble of Su State by the family name of Ji made the vessel for her daughter who was married to a man of Guo State and was called “Guo Ji Yu Mu”. Yu Mu was the name of her daughter. In the inscriptions of the ancient bronze wares, the most complete title that a parent addressed their daughter was “husband’s Shi name+ seniority among brothers and sisters + patriarchal family name + the courtesy name of the daughter”. In another example, “Guo Wen Gong Zi Duan Zuo Shu Ji Li” indicated that Ziduan, or Lord Wen of Guo State, made the vessel for his wife with the family name of Ji. “Shu Ji” meant that she ranked third in the seniority among her brothers and sisters. In the inscriptions of the bronze wares, the most complete title that a husband used to address his wife was “patriarchal Shi name + seniority among brothers and sisters + patriarchal family name + the courtesy name of the wife + laudatory title”. The inscriptions on the bronze wares also showed that sometimes younger generations made bronze vessels for older generations. For instance, “San Ji Zhao Zuo Zhen Wang Mu Shu Jiang Bao Gui” was the sacrificial vessel made by San Ji for his grandmother by the family name of Jiang. On occasions where the parents-in-law made vessels for their daughter-in-law, the daughter-in-law was usually called “husband’s Shi name + patriarchal family name” such as “Guo Zhong Zuo Guo Ji Zun Li”.
In summary, in the female titles of the Zhou Dynasty, the “patriarchal family name” was the most important component in both the female self-addressing titles and the titles other people used to address a female, which conformed with the ritual system of “females were addressed by family names” in the Zhou Dynasty and reflected the characteristic in the customary female titles of the Zhou Dynasty.
Guo State was a state where Ji was the most popular family name while the Liang State was, according to historical records, a vassal state with the last name of Ying. Why was the little jar made by Liang Ji found in the tomb of the Guo State? Was “Liang Ji” the true owner of Tomb M2012?
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Similar small bronze wares with beautiful decorations and fine craftsmanship were common in the period from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to early Spring and Autumn Period.
Examples of square vessels are: the square lian case with a tiger-shaped knob (Fig. 5) unearthed from Tomb M3 of the Lesser Zhu State in Zaozhuang, Shandong Province, which measures 14 cm in length, 11 cm in width, and 7 cm in height; the square box in the shape of ding cauldron (Fig.6) unearthed from Tomb M62 of Marquis of Jin in Beizhao, Shanxi Province, which measures 9.6 cm in length, 10.4 cm in width, and 9.6 cm in height; the A-shaped box (Fig. 7) unearthed from Tomb M1 dedicated to a female owner in Mount Yuanding of Li County, Gansu Province, which measures 11.1 cm in length, 7.5 cm in width, and 8.8 cm in height; the bronze square lian case (Fig.8) unearthed from Tomb M5 in Xincun of Xun County, Henan Province, which measures 5.75 cm in length, 5.55 cm in width, and 7.45 cm in height.
The examples of round jars include: the bronze vessel with pierced handles (Fig.9) unearthed from Lijiazhuang in Yishui, Shandong Province, which measures 10.9 cm in total height; the vessel decorated with two tubular loops (Fig.10) unearthed from Tomb M26 of Zhong Jiang at Liangdai Village in Hancheng, Shaanxi Province, which measures 10.6 cm in total height; the small jar with a loop handle (Fig.11) unearthed from the tomb of the king of Shi State (Tomb M6) in Xianrentai of Changqing, Shandong Province, which measures 9.2 cm in total height.
The above-mentioned bronze wares fall into the category of miniature vessel, measuring about 10 cm in height on average. They are different from both the stately and heavy ritual bronze objects and the coarse funerary objects specifically made for the deceased owner of the tomb. Instead, they are vessels with practical purposes for daily use.
According to the research by some scholars, the fact that most of the square miniature bronze wares were unearthed from tombs of female owners with jewelries such as jade and agate inside them indicates that they were used as jewelry boxes. The small round bronze boxes were unearthed from tombs of both male and female owners and their specific functions may be determined by the different objects buried together with them. However, they are all containers for daily use. In addition, the jars with tubular loops were mostly unearthed in the Central Plains region while the jars with a loop handle are often seen in the Dongyi region, possibly resulted from different customs in different regions.
The Liang Ji Jar unearthed from the tomb of Madam Guoji (Tomb M2012) of Guo State in Sanmenxia, Henan Province, has a well-documented location of excavation with fine craftsmanship, delicate decorations and inscriptions and is therefore a very valuable piece.
In terms of the interpretation of the inscriptions on the vessel, it has been widely accepted among the academia that the first three characters are “Liang Ji Zuo”, but disagreement arises with regards to the last two characters. According to the excavator, the first character has a component of rice and is therefore the same type of crop as rice and sorghum, symbolizing cutting grass with a knife. The next character is the name of a vessel, which has a component of “匚” and is therefore the same as the characters “ ”, “匩”, etc. The image inside it is “ ” and is interpreted as “賣”, making the entire character “匵” (du in Chinese), which is supposed to be a square vessel. It is likely to generally refer to the storage vessel when used in a round vessel.
Other scholars think that the first character looks similar to “稻”(rice) in the Compilation of Inscriptions on Ancient Bronze Vessels and the last one looks similar to “ ”, and therefore should read “Fu”. Although the unearthed vessels with the inscription of “ ” are usually in a square shape, there may be round ones in a few cases. Therefore, the latter two characters should be interpreted as “稻 ”, literally “rice jar” that was used for storing grains and cooked food.
Others believe that the former character is likely “粱”(liang, meaning “sorghum”). It was made different from the first character “ ” in the inscription to avoid repetitiveness. The latter character is interpreted as “匵” (du) and the component of “匚” indicates it is a vessel. “Liang” is a kind of fine powder that is made from refined rice and used for makeup. Therefore, the jar is used for storing the cosmetics.
Generally, it is agreed among the academia that Liang Ji Jar was a storage vessel for daily use. Other than the tomb of Guo State, such delicate and exquisite miniature vessels placed inside the coffin or between the inner and outer coffins were also found from Lijiazhuang in Yishui, Xianrentai in Changqing, and Zaozhuang of Shandong Province, Liangdai Village in Hancheng of Shaanxi Province and other places. Square miniature vessel of such type was also found. With the improvement in the bronze casting technology and a higher requirement for bronze wares, in addition to the ritual vessels and weapons, people started to make bronze wares for daily use and produce some exquisite and delicate vessels. From the inscriptions on the Liang Ji Jar, we can infer that it is possibly the jewel case for females, demonstrating the female instinct for beauty. In summary, this kind of vessels appeared to meet the demand of people’s daily life as a result of social development.
Liang Ji Jar was found between the inner and outer coffins. It has a humped cover and a flat knob in the shape of a human head on the top, a spherical body with a Zikou, a deep belly, a ring foot, two square beast-headed tubular loops in symmetry on the rim of the mouth and the cover; The knob on the cover features a profile of a bound-haired human head; The cover is decorated with curving twin-dragon and twin-beast pattern, and the belly with intertwined human and dragon designs, all on a ground of fine cloud and thunder pattern. The ring foot is decorated with pearless double-ring pattern. Five inverted characters are inscribed in two lines on the inner side of the cover, arranged vertically from right to left: “Liang Ji Zuo □□”. (Fig.1) Liang Ji Jar is the only bronze ware with inscriptions unearthed from M2012. The excavator determined, based on the inscriptions on the jar, that the owner of the tomb was Liang Ji.
Fig. 1 The inscriptions on Liang Ji Jar
The theme pattern of Liang Ji Jar– dragon pattern, was the most widely used in the bronze wares in ancient China. The dragon pattern on the cover features simplified coiled dragons (Fig. 2) with a protruding head and a long, slim and coiled body. The patterns on the belly consist of the simplified coiled dragons intertwined with human pattern (Fig. 3, Fig.4).
In summary, the Liang Ji Jar features a plump body, resplendent decoration, fine craftsmanship and has inscriptions, thus is a valuable bronze masterpiece.
