Shang and Zhou: the Bronze Age
Kings and nobles offered food and wine to their ancestors in massive bronze vessels decorated with staring monster masks.
The Shang dynasty ruled northern China from around 1600 BC. The king communicated with the ancestors through oracle bones – turtle shells and shoulder blades incised with questions, the oldest Chinese writing.
Bronze casting reached a level unmatched anywhere in the world. The vessels were cast in sectional clay moulds, and their surfaces were covered with taotie, stylised animal masks with large eyes. Each type of vessel – ding, gu, jue, gui – had its own role in the rituals.
Under the Zhou dynasty, which took power around 1046 BC, vessels came to bear long inscriptions about royal gifts and merits. During the Eastern Zhou the realm split into warring states, and it was then that Confucius and Laozi lived.