Gu (vessel)
A gu is a type of ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessel from the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600–256 BC).
The long stem made it easy to hold and sip from, while still allowing it to take on unique and elegant features.
The form, shapes, and décor, provide hints to the every vessel's function as well as the early beliefs that inspired them.
Early Chinese religion has been difficult for scholars to understand due to a lack of extensive archaeological evidence on Neolithic religious philosophies and ritual practices.
[2] The early Shang dynasty, however, had a much more concrete religion in regards to beliefs and practices ranging from ancestor worship to funerary rituals, and a developed system to perform sacrifices.
The powers of nature included those that could have resided in animals, plants, water, sickness, death, and eventually the afterlife, all of which coexisted with people as having a high influence on one's life.
The more elegant styled vessels with more relief and design would be found more commonly in the high class surroundings.
[5] The only evidence we have of ritual use of this vessel is its strong association with wine, spirits, and high class rulers.
[9] One bronze gu has been discovered at the north corner of the upper level of the Tomb M2 in Erligang, Zhengzhou, an early Shang dynasty site.
[10] Decors on this vessel are concentrated on a band at the lower part of its body, which, according to Max Loehr, is a characteristic of Early Shang bronze.
For example, all the gu vessels and some other bronzes from Chenggu, Shaanxi have this kind of cross-shape holes, though their diverse decors and shapes suggest they might have been made in different time periods in the Shang dynasty.
[14] Chü gu, also found from a tomb at Anyang, is about 31 cm high and its mouth is almost twice as wide as its bottom.
Jessica Rawson has pointed out a gu that is 28.5 cm high with a taotie motif on its waist celebrates the early Shang styles by locating its decors on one band.
A gray pottery beaker Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine discovered at a Dawenkou culture site in Tai'an, Shandong, is categorized as a "gu-shape vessel".
The middle section is a long stem, decorated with engraved grooves and a high rising band.
Some pottery drinking vessels excavated in the late Dawenkou sites appear more similar to the bronze gu.
[26] A pottery gu from a tomb that can be dated to the reign of Zugeng (祖庚) or Zu Jia (祖甲) in Anyang.
[29]: 43, 45 These gu[30] have slim waist and wide-opened mouth and they are coated with black and red lacquer with some rising bands as decorations.
