Research On Zhou Period Bronze Footed Gui Vessels

This research focuses on bronze footed gui vessels(gui vessels with added feet) excavated and attributed to the Zhou and the Zhou period. The author first synthesizes the previous research on these objects and sets the chronological and geographical frame of the study. In the second part, a typological analysis establishes that the footed gui can be divided into five groups according to their morphology traits : type I corresponds to the footed gui shaped like a bowl, type II the cylindrical ones, type III the ones shaped like a jar, type IV the ones shaped like a plate, and type V the ones shaped like a shallow basin. Furthermore, by defining the characteristics of the handles, subtypes are defined into the main types. On the basis of this analysis, the author was able to clarify the evolution process of these objects among the different archaeological cultures, thus defining 5 phases of development for the footed gui : the Early Western Zhou phase, the Middle Western Zhou phase, the Late Western Zhou phase, the Early Spring and Autumn phase, and the Middle and Late Spring and Autumn phase. In the next part of the research, through a careful observation of the spatial distribution of the discoveries of footed gui, the author reveals that the Zhou people first created this type of artifact, borrowing from the ding tripods(ding tripods of odd shapes) of the Late phase of the Shang period in order to produce the same function. Apart from boiling millet for sacrifices, it produced a cooking function for all other foodstuff. It is a material expression of the food culture of the Zhou people. It has strong Zhou cultural traits and follows the rise, development and decline of the Zhou court.