Treasures – Bronze Bucket with Boating Paintings (Early Han)

The bronze bucket stands as an iconic artefact of Nanyue culture, and preserves the most extensive and detailed naval battle scene in ancient Chinese archaeology.

Bronze Bucket with Boating Paintings 船纹锏提筒

Bronze ware | Nanyue period (205-24 BC) of the Western Han Dynasty (202-9 BC)｜Excavated in 1983 from the tomb of the King Wen of Nanyue, Museum of the King of Nanyue Collection. 青铜 ｜ 西汉南越国 （公元前205年-24年）｜ 西汉南越国时期 1983年南越文王墓出土 南越王博物院藏

The Bronze Bucket with Boating Paintings was used for storing liquor by the Yue people in ancient times. Of over twenty similar bronze buckets discovered across China, nine were unearthed from the Tomb of Nanyue King.

This is the most delicate one of the 9 bronze buckets of different sizes unearthed. Its midsection displays four warships carved in relief, arranged in procession with raised prows and sterns, reflecting a fleet returning in triumph.¹

Another theory is that the bucket depicts the ceremony of worshipping the god of water by the Yue people in the Lingnan region.² This ceremony can be thought to be the origin of dragon boat races in Guangzhou based on historical records³ that can be dated back to the Southern Han dynasty (917–971)⁴.

A deck is prominently drawn and the ship is divided into cabins. One of the cabins is filled with bronze drums. On the ship, there are drawings of turtles, fishes and seabirds. Warriors wearing feathered adornments are holding the heads of the captives and guard tightly the rest of them.

This bronze bucket preserves the most extensive and detailed naval battle scene in ancient Chinese archaeology. The meticulously rendered motifs—including watertight compartments, distinct ship rigging, and warriors armed with spears and shields—provide invaluable references for studying China’s 2nd-century BCE maritime technology and naval warfare tactics.⁵

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These paintings are the most complete draft of a ship among archaeological findings. They also point out the fact that fishing and hunting are important to the economy of the ancient Yue people.

Storage Vessels 盛储器具

Bronze ware | Nanyue period (205-24 BC) of the Western Han Dynasty (202-9 BC) | Excavated in 1983 from the tomb of the King Wen of Nanyue, Museum of the King of Nanyue Collection. 青铜 ｜ 西汉南越国 （公元前203年-111年）｜ 西汉南越国时期 1983年南越文王墓出土 南越王博物院藏

A large number of storage vessels made of iron have been unearthed from the mausoleum. Among all these buckets with handle were the most representative. These buckets had been popular in the period from late Warring States to the Nanyue Kingdom.

Before the Qin Dynasty, few iron tools were used in Lingnan region. The unification brought the advanced instruments and mode of productions to Lingnan. More than 120 pieces of iron wares unearthed from the tomb are iron tools, including various types, such as agriculture, fishery and handicraft.

They are decorated in typical Lingnan⁶ style. The Bronze Bucket is influenced by the Luoyue Culture⁷ and The impressed pottery reflects the range of ceramics in respect of kind, shape, decoration, craftwork and quantity.⁸

Sailing the Seven Seas

Historical and archaeological records show that from around 2 BC, coastal areas in China opened up maritime trade routes towards Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and even the Indian Ocean. Rising in the era of the Qin and Han dynasties, the Nanyue Kingdom made its capital at Panyu (番禺, a township in modern day Guangzhou), a city that advanced as a metropolis and hub for imported products.

The Treatise on Geography in the Book of Han 《前漢書》 by Ban Gu 班固 (32–92 AD) recorded that the Han Dynasty conquered Nanyue in 1 BC and sent ambassadors to explore business opportunities in the South China Sea area, the Huang-chi Kingdom and Sri Lanka near the Indian Ocean. The maritime route connecting the East and the West was forged at this time, becoming a landmark of marine traffic and the signal of the rise of the Maritime Silk Road.

Footnotes:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanyue_King_Museum ↩︎
2. https://www.newsgd.com/node_3c3902cb95/e00b9adf5b.shtml#:~:text=boat%20races%20in%20Guangzhou%20can%20be%20dated,a%20Bronze%20Bucket%20with%20Boat%20Paintings%20which ↩︎
3. The source of this theory has not been verified. Highly unlikely as Southern Han dynasty (917–971), which was during the tumultuous period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (五代十國) (907-979) has totally nothing to do Yue people, who are the aborigines of the area that was Sinicised during the Warring States by the State of Qin . ↩︎
4. The Southern Han (917–971) was founded in Guangzhou by Liu Yan. His brother, Liu Yin, was named regional governor by the Tang court. The kingdom included Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan. It was finally conquered by the Song dynasty. ↩︎
5. Nanyue King Museum (1 March 2020). “详尽图文看《南越藏珍》！（Part 7：海路扬帆）”. WeChat official account. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 25 May 2024 ↩︎
6. 岭南 (Lingnan), lit. south of the mountain ridges, the old name for the region of Guangzhou. From the central government (of Qin and Han) perspective, this was a region “south” of the mountain range that split Central Plains from the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian. ↩︎
7. The Lạc Việt or Luoyue (駱越 or 雒越) were an ancient conglomeration of peoples inhabiting northern Vietnam, particularly the ancient Red River Delta, from approximately 700 BC to 100 AD, during the last stage of the Neolithic and the beginning of the period of classical antiquity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lạc_Việt#:~:text=The%20Lạc%20Việt%20or%20Luoyue,and%20the%20beginning%20of%20the ↩︎
8. 墓中出士了大量的盛储用器，极具岭南地方特色。其中提筒最富代表性，主要流行于战国晚期至南越国时期。墓中出士的印纹陶器在种类、器形、装饰、工艺、数量等方面，都反映出这一时期岭南制陶业的发展水平。[From the museum information plate, Jul 22] ↩︎