Wang Guowei, a twentieth century scholar who did seminal research on bronzes and their inscriptions, continued the philological tradition in the study of vessel types. He believed the Song dynasty scholars were incorrect in their classification of this vessel. Wang was sure this was the siguang mentioned in the Book of Odes (Shijing), that most venerable of Chinese classics. Wang surmised that this type of vessel, bearing a horned creature on its lid, matched the passages in the Odes that read, "I will take a cup from that rhinoceros' horn," or, as in the first line of the poem cited above, "How long is that cup of rhinoceros horn." (ii).

On further study, it seems more likely that another type of vessel better fits this passage from the Odes. For the siguang of antiquity was a serving vessel, probably derived from the form of an ox horn rather than a rhinoceros. (iii) As for our vessel, current usage favors the term gong. (iv)

The study of ancient names does little to explain the exotic shape of this gong which does not resemble a horn of any sort. With the lid removed, it resembles a gravy boat set on a ring foot (one can see why the Song dynasty scholars classified it as an "ewer"). Large birds with flaring plumes and trailing feathers, commonly identified as phoenixes, adorn both sides of this vessel and serve as the principal motif. Two serpentine creatures, often identified as dragons, climb the throat of the vessel just out of reach of the birds' beaks, suggesting a theme of combat. A different kind of bird-and-animal theme is echoed on the handle where a diminutive water buffalo with prominent snout and spreading horns serves to anchor the handle to the wall of the vessel. A small projecting hook placed low on the handle suggests the tail of a bird. There is an intimation of some ancient narrative in this strange mélange of creatures. Birds in combat with dragons and ox-headed mammals grasping birds in their mouths evoke visions of some tribal myth that remains elusive, subliminal, slightly beyond our consciousness.

The image of this vessel changes dramatically when the lid is put in place. Then, lid, bowl, foot and handle become part of a unified structure representing the body of a single creature, a three-dimensional animal conceit. The round-eyed animal at the other end of the lid, the elongated phoenix in the middle, the serpent on its crown, all the other animals on the body of the vessel, are there if choose to see them, but they serve as accessories to the dominating image presided over by the "bottle-horned dragon" set over the spout. (v) However one reads it, there is now a coherent image, like a sculpture of a single animal.

The earliest examples of the gong reveal their hybrid origins in the awkward way they meld the more traditional shape of a bronze utensil into a more sculpturesque animal form. The lower bodies of these early vessels are like two-handled bowls that have had one handle lopped off and a body that has been flattened to accommodate the addition of a spout and animal lid. Sometimes they are set on a foot-ring, sometimes on separate legs, but always the lower bodies remain constant in their use of the usual array of Shang motifs, most notably the symmetrically arranged animal mask commonly called the taotie.(vi) As a result, there was always a disturbing contrast between the compelling frontality in the arrangement of the taotie on the lower part of the vessel and the asymmetrical, directional orientation of the animal décor on the spout and cover.

That compositional tension was successfully resolved in the redesigned form of the gong as evidenced by this vessel. Here, all motifs face the same direction, accepting a common course set by the horned creature on the lid and providing a natural flow in the movement of the birds to the front of the vessel. In addition, the dense network of minute meanders and spirals (leiwen) that commonly surrounded the decorative motifs on Shang dynasty bronzes has been omitted, thus doing away with the contrast between motif and background. In its place, we see the smooth wall of the vessel resulting in a new unity of surface and, hence, a greater unity of the shape itself. Decoration is treated in the same fashion. The two creatures on either end of the lid are depicted in mask-like fashion, without any hint of bodies. Their faces seem to emerge from the background, thus reinforcing the conceit that the "body" of the vessel is also the "body" of these masked creatures. So, too, the vessel's handle is also the body of the buffalo/bird invention depicted there. Decoration takes on a new role that is subservient to shape and oriented in a way that graces the silhouette of the vessel and reinforces the animal conceit at the expense of the individual decorative motifs. Birds, dragons, snakes and animal masks merge more easily into the wall of the vessel and becomes less dominant. There is a transformational quality in this, a shifting reality in the eye of the viewer. One moment we see a simple animal form, next we see details of disparate creatures playing across its surface, making themselves known only to merge again with the whole. This kind of magical ambivalence is characteristic of a new style, one that was a dynamic departure from the more static, ornament-focused norm of the Shang Dynasty.

Changes in vessel design were not purely artistic decisions under the control of the bronze masters. The development of style was entwined with political developments of the era. The taotie and the associated motifs that ornamented the bodies of the Shang dynasty vessels, including the earlier gong, were sacrosanct, decorative devices emblematic of the Shang Dynasty itself. These potent symbols could not be cavalierly abandoned.

The emergence of the Zhou people as a new dynastic power ultimately became the catalyst for stylistic invention; new times demanded a new symbolic rhetoric. It was not just decoration that had to change; whole classes of vessels, especially those like the gu and jue that were associated with wine sacrifices, were struck from the inventory of ritual vessels. The gong, as a wine container, fell victim to the same trend within a few generations of Western Zhou rule. Thus, the Weisbrod vessel represents a special moment in the design of this new kind of vessel. Indeed, this style of gong is as emblematic of the new era, the rule and rise of the Western Zhou Dynasty, as the older style was of the Shang.

In the intervening years between the casting of this vessel and its entry into the modern world of scholarship, museums and art collecting, it has been subjected to the brute forces of the elements. The brassy bright surface of the original casting has weathered to the rich, green texture we see today. The rich patina, though not true to the original appearance, has come to be part of the aesthetic appeal of these vessels, part of what makes them antiques. Early conservationists, from the Song Dynasty down through the nineteenth century, chipped away at the patina on the surface of bronzes and waxed them to a dark, almost black color. More recently, the fashion has been to preserve something of the tone of the object as it has emerged from the ground. So, visiting a modern museum, we may encounter vessels of very different colors reflecting the taste of the times when they were restored. This vessel was also restored to something like its original condition. Minor damage was filled in following the pattern of the undamaged areas and the surface stabilized to prevent further decay. That, too, is a part of this vessel's complex history.

(i) Book of Odes, (Shijing), Sang hu, Decade of Sang Hu, the last quatrain of Ode 215 conveniently available in the University of Virginia electronic edition at URL: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/chinese
(ii) ibid. - Odes of Zhou and the South, Juan Er, #3. For the use of a rhinoceros horn drinking cup the final stanza of Ode #154 seems the better candidate, "Let us slaughter our lambs and sheep, And go to the Halls of the Princes. There raise the cup of rhinoceros horn And wish him long life that he may live forever." The Odes of Bin: Qi Yue
(iii) A horn-shaped vessel excavated in Shanxi is illustrated in Ma Chengyuan, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Oxford University Press, 1986, pl. 32; therein classified as a gong.
(iv) A vessel quite similar to the Weisbrod gong is illustrated in The Shanghai Museum of Art. Shen Zhiyu, ed. Abrams, no. 69-70, p. 151, the "Fu Yi" gong. The text describes it as a serving vessel with "a spout for pouring wine."
(v)As in the vessel cited above, which has the same kind of horns and facial structure. The "model" for this animal, if such existed, might be the Reeves deer, which has a small stumpy horn crowned by a sharp thorn-like spike.
(vi) See Jorg Trubner, Yu Und Kunag, zur typologie des Chinesischen bronzen, Klinkhardt & Bierman Verlag, Leipzig, 1929, for a good selection of examples of the gong type.