The Collation And Study Of The Data On The Maiden Vessels Of Zhou Bronzes

Bronze vessels are important physical evidence for exploring the rituals and ceremonies of the Shang and Zhou periods.As one of the categories of bronze wares,the maiden wares contain information about gender,family,and marriage,and therefore need to be examined in detail.The study of bronze wares began in the Song Dynasty,and then flourished in the Qing Dynasty.In modern times,as research progressed,scholars clearly pointed out the existence of the category of "maiden vessels" in bronze wares and divided them into "broad maiden vessels"and "narrow maiden vessels" according to the terminology."Since 2002,a large number of new bronze vessels have been excavated and circulated,and the number of maids is also considerable.The information reflected in the material of the newly seen bronze vessels in terms of age and inscription format adds to the previous research results of scholars,but no scholars have yet comprehensively summarized and organized them.In view of this,this paper intends to organize and study the newly seen maidenware materials and related issues.The first part of this paper is an introduction,which gives an overview of the academic history and current status of the study of maiden vessels,and explains the object,significance,purpose and method of the paper,as well as the problems that should be noted;the second part compares the newly seen maiden vessel materials from the Western and Eastern Zhou periods,divided into two categories:archaeological excavated materials and non-archaeological excavated materials.The archaeological excavated materials are organized according to the burial units,including the shape of the vessels,the information of the records,the inscriptions,and so on,and the opinions on the interpretation of some disputed words and phrases in the inscriptions are supplemented.The third part is a research on the period,type of wares,and provenance of maiden vessels.