Chinese Art History
In Wu Hung's discussion of traditional Chinese concepts of monumentality, he utilizes the ancient legend of the Nine Bronze Tripods to illustrate how the traditions (including ancestral temple and ritual vessels, capital city and palaces, and tomb and funerary paraphernalia) of early Chinese cultures can be better understood after identifying their monumentality. According to the myth, in 605 B.C., a Chu lord lead a campaign near the Zhou capital at Luoyang where he was greeted by the minister Wangsun Man. After the lord inquired about the size and weight of the Nine Tripods, Wagsun Man answered with a passage stating the three distinct intentions of the tripods which forms the basis of ritual art Foremost, the Nine Tripods were made to honor important political events, notably the establishment of the Xia after which an organized power became evident. The T
Concerning the Nine Tripods, Wagsun Man mentioned the bronze material being symbolic of the submission of the Xia allies. In studying Early Chinese Art, Wu Hung explains that material, shape, decoration, and inscription each are significant. Furthmore, it was believed that the Tripods had an "animate" quality and would only willing to be possessed by the rightful owners. This act was demonstrated as the transmission of the Three Dynasties corresponded to the possession of the Tripods. In the case of the Zhou dynasty, they still possessed the Nine Tripods when the Chu lord campaigned and, thus, were the legitimate ruler of China as mandated by Heaven. With the changing of hands and locations of the Tripods, the political power followed. Not only were the Tripods a result of important events in ancient China, they were the prerequisite for these events as well. ripods also justified this event since they were constructed from bronze sent by the Xia allies and bore inscriptions of their things, confirming their entrance into the centralized political power. Wagsun Mab also declared there were things inscribed on the Tripods which were likely decorative emblems of local regions that do not appear after the Shang. This allowed people to discern "divine" from "evil", the former being the Xia alliance while the latter represented the Xia enemies whose things were missing from the Tripods. Subsequently, the Nine Tripods became a symbol of Power - whomever was in possession of the Tripods held political power as well. Finally, the Tripods "animate " quality seems to appear in the metamorphic images on late Shang bronzes. Only once the Chu lord obtained the Tripods would Power follow. Thus, it is extremely important to consider many different attributes of an artwork in order to construct an account of Early Chines Art.
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Acceptance Essays
