Nanyue

In contrast, the brazier Nanyue G41, while recalling preimperial work, must be an Early—Middle Western Han product in the Warring States style (Figure 4.20A).265 The outer walls of this brazier bear two patterns: the first, repeated felines executed in the Late Springs—Autumns and Warring States manner with elongated bodies and heads turned to face the rear; the second, an abstract interlocking of vertical S-forms consisting of broad bands of dots. The latter recalls the broad bands of interlace widely used on Middle and Late Springs and Autumns work of both north and south266 Combined with the Chu and southeastern use of small dots to fill a decorative pattern.267 The Chu dots, however, are in sharp relief, while the Nanyue G4i echo is quite flat. Flat dots are used to fill pattern bands in the north, as in the Jin site of Shangma (Houma Municipality, Shanxi) Mi004:i.268

Despite the consistency in the date of the motifs used, I have found no early example of the animal with turned head used as a compact, overall pattern, as it is on G4i. The closest comparison is with the Middle Warring States Yan bronze serving platter pan M57:43 from Baijia (Handan, Hebei;

Figure 4.20B)269 And the bronze ding M57:2 of the same site,270 both of which bear a decor of densely placed animal forms with S-shaped or loosely spiraled serpentine bodies and feline-like heads. Because, to my knowledge, no genuine Eastern Zhou prototype exists for the specific decor used on Nanyue G4i, this brazier must be considered an Early—Middle Western Han product making use of earlier convention.

Altogether, then, only two Mancheng hu, Mi:50i9, Mi:50i4, the Mancheng Mi:4286 cup and its series, and the Nanyue G4i brazier appear to have been made by Han artisans in imitation of preimperial work. Of these few cases, none is preponderantly southern in decor. We may thus conclude that while Han decors may draw on preimperial usage,

Figure 4.20: A) Tomb of the King of Nanyue (Xianggangshan [Guangzhou Municipality, Guangdong]) G41, bronze brazier; B) Baijia (Handan, Hebei) M57:43, Middle Warring States, bronze pan basin. (Nanyue, vol. 1, 283, fig. 196 [A]; Baijia (Handan, Hebei), KG 1962.12, 622, fig. 12 [B].)

Imitation as such was extremely rare and, in vessels at least, no one region of Warring States China was favored. As limited as it was, the imitation of earlier work implies that preimperial bronzes remained in circulation during the Han, providing models for this imitation. The Han burial of such early work is much more widespread than Han imitation of such work, and occurs over a wide range of social rankings. The limited direct influence of these heirlooms does much to underscore Han departure from Bronze Age convention and hence from Bronze Age cultural values as well.