It is a Ligui, an early Bronze Artifact of the Western Zhou Dynasty, excavated in 1976 in the village of Xiduan, Zhikou Town, Lintong County, Shaanxi. Now it is on permanent display at the National Museum.
With a height of 28 centimeters, a caliber of 22 centimeters, and a weight of 7.95 kilograms, it is not large enough or beautiful enough compared to many famous bronzes of the Western Zhou Dynasty. As we all know, the exhibits that can enter the National Museum are "not treasures or expensive", so what is the "treasure" and "expensive" of this bronze?
Ligui is a permanent exhibit of the National Museum. This time, I saw it at the exhibition "Zhaozi China - Baoji Unearthed Bronze Ware and Golden Essence" held at the National Expo. Li Gui was unearthed in Shaanxi, and it is also considered to be a return to the hometown when it appears on this exhibition.
Look at this piece of gui, a little unassuming, full of patina; on the volume, ornamentation, Li Gui in the Western Zhou bronze is not dominant. But to occupy a firm place in the National Museum, it must have "superiority".
Tell me why it's called a ligu. Li, the maker of this artifact, was a Western Zhou official named Li. It was first a vessel for cooking rice, like a rice bowl, and later made an important ceremonial vessel.
In the early Western Zhou Dynasty, an official named Li followed King Wu in the war of the Wu King, and after the victory, he was rewarded, and he made this bronze vessel to commemorate and sacrifice to his ancestors.
King Wu shang lidu was involved, and the "souvenirs" he made for this matter were of course from the early Western Zhou Dynasty. The Ligui is the earliest known Western Zhou bronze ware.
The upper circle below the sharp gui reflects the ancient concept of a round place. The body is decorated with animal face patterns, dragon patterns and cloud thunder patterns. The two ears of the gui are like two small beasts with their mouths pouting.
Li Gui is not large, but stable and dignified.
The reason why Li Gui firmly occupies a place in guobo is more because of the inscription on the bottom of its abdomen: Wu Wang Zhengshang, Wei Jia Zi Chao, Shi Ding, Ke Shu You Shang, Xin Wei, Wang Zai Shi Shi, giving Li Jin, used as the Tang Gong Bao Zun Yi.
The translation is: King Wu of Zhou conquered the King of Shang, destroyed the Shang Dynasty overnight, and occupied Chaoge on the morning of Jiazi Day, when the stars were empty. On the eighth day of Xin Wei, King Wu gave Youshili a lot of copper, tin and other metals in honor of his merits, and used them as sacrifice vessels for the ancestors of The Duke of Tan to commemorate the ancestors of the Duke of Tan.
Li Gui recorded a major event, the Battle of Makino of the Wu King, and gave the specific time of the Battle of Makino, which was caused by the Koshi Day in a certain year, and the year star was Jupiter in the middle of the sky.
Remember that there was a big project before the "Xia Shang Zhou Dynasty Project", and astronomers calculated the time according to the celestial phenomenon of "Jiazi Dynasty, Year Ding" - January 20, 1046 BC.
The year 1046 BC is now recognized as the time of the founding of the Western Zhou Dynasty!
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