Based the five named tombs surrounding it, it was deduced that this M114 tomb belonged to first Marquis of Jin, Ji Xiefu 姬燮父.1
Bird-shaped Zun of the Marquis of Jin State 晋侯鸟尊
Bronzeware | Western Zhou (11th century BC – 771 BC) | H: 39cm, L: 30.5cm, W: 17.5cm |Excavated from Tomb 114 at the cemetery of Marquis of Jin at Beizhao vilage, Quwo County, Shanxi Province | Shanxi Museum collection. 铜器｜西周（公元前11世纪 一前771年）｜高39厘米，长30.5厘米，宽17.5厘米｜山西省曲沃县北赵村晋侯墓地114号墓出土 ｜山西博物院藏
Excavated from the tomb of the first Marquis of Jin2, the wine vessel is This bronzeware zun was recorded in the Rites of Zhou3 as one of the Six Zun and Six Yi “六尊六彝”. 4 Zun are generally ritual vessels for wine that date back as early as the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC). Standing 39cm tall, the zun was specifically used in sacrificial ceremonies.
Crafted in the shape of a phoenix, the bird stands proudly with its tail curved downward to form a tripod base. Its head is raised high, glancing back at a miniature version of itself perched on its back, which also serves as the handle. The vessel features intricate designs of feathers and clouds. Its upper beak opens when wine is poured out.
The inscription5 on the cover and inside the belly of the phoenix confirms it was used for sacrificial ceremonies in the ancestral temple of the marquis. The discovery helped confirm the location of the Jin State’s capital and lineage.
When it was discovered, it has been broken into pieces by tomb raiders whom had used explosives to get into the tomb. Experts managed to piece them together to the current state of display, starting with the tail piece.6
It was listed among the third batch of List of Chinese cultural relics forbidden to be exhibited abroad 禁止出境展览文物.
Who is this Marquis of Jin State?
The bronze zun belonged to Marquis Xie of Jin 晋侯燮, aka Xiefu 燮父 or Bo Hou of Tang 唐伯侯 7, who was the second ruler of State of Jin, taking over from his father Shu Yu of Tang 唐叔虞, who was accorded the fiefdom of Tang 唐 by King Cheng of Zhou 周成王. Shu Yu’s son and successor, Xie, moved the capital Jiang nearer to the Jin River and renamed the state Jin 晋.
天子无戏言 “A sovereign must not joke about the things he says”
Shu Yu was an accidental lord, as he was not intended to be conferred the title. Shortly after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou 周武王, aka Ji Fa 姬發 died. His son, Ji Song 姬誦, ascended the throne and became King Cheng of Zhou 周成王 (~1055–1021 BC). Since he was very young and too inexperienced to run the newly founded dynasty, his uncle, the Duke of Zhou 周公旦, aka 姬旦9, served as regent and handled all political affairs until King Cheng of Zhou became old enough to rule. In the year that King Cheng of Zhou ascended the throne, the people of a land called Tang rebelled, so the Duke of Zhou conquered them.
According to the Records of the Grand Historian 《史记》10, one day King Cheng of Zhou was playing with his younger brother, Shu Yu 叔虞11. King Cheng of Zhou suddenly picked up a parasol tree leaf and gave it to Yu.12 Then he said playfully,” Let this be a proof that I will make you a feudal lord.” Yu happily got the leaf and he then told this to the Duke of Zhou13. The Duke of Zhou thought that whatever the young King Cheng of Zhou said should not be taken lightly since he was the king.
The Duke of Zhou approached the young king and asked him if it was true. The young king said that he was just joking with his brother. Then the Duke of Zhou replied, “A sovereign must not joke about the things he says and do as what he has said.” The young king thought it was reasonable and gave the recent conquered land of Tang (west of modern Yicheng County in Shanxi) to his brother, hence Shu Yu became known as Shu Yu of Tang 唐叔虞.14
Rise and Fall of State of Jin
Shu Yu of Tang (most likely conferred around ~1040 BC15) begat Marquis Xie of Jin; Marquis Xie begat Marquis Wu of Jin, whose name was Ningzu 晋武侯宁族; Marquis Wu begat Marquis Cheng, named Furen 晋成侯服人; Marquis Cheng begat Marquis Li, named Fu 晉厲侯福; Marquis Li begat Marquis Jing, named Yijiu 晉靖侯宜臼; Marquis Jing begat Marquis Xi, named Situ 晉釐侯司徒; Marquis Xi begat Marquis Xian, named Ji 籍 or Su 穌 晉獻侯; Marquis Xian begat Marquis Mu, named Feiwang 晉穆侯費王 and after he died, his brother Shang 殤 usurped the throne. Mu’s son Ji Chou 姬仇 took back the throne 4 years later and became Marquis Wen 晋文侯仇 (r. 780-746 BC), and began the tumultuous period of Jin…..
Jin 晉 was one of the large regional states of the Zhou period 周 (11th cent.-221 BC). It was located in modern Shanxi and lasted for almost 700 years. It reached its peak around the time of Duke Wen. During the Spring and Autumn period 春秋 (770-5th cent. BC), Duke Wen 晉文公16 (r. 636-628) achieved supremacy over the other regional states and was elected one of the five hegemonial lords (五霸)17.
Three sidebranches of the house of Jin, Han 韓, Wei 魏,and Zhao 趙, became more powerful and finally divided the territory of Jin among themselves. The event was recorded as Partition of Jin 三家分晋 and marked the end of the Spring and Autumn period. Jin officially came to an end in 349 BC18 when Marquis Jing, named Jujiu 晉靜公俱酒 (r. 377-376 BC) was assassinated by the three families.19
Photos taken at Shanxi Museum, Taiyuan, Oct 2025; Jinci 晋词, Taiyuan, Oct 2025, Temple of Duke of Zhou 周公庙, Luoyang, Mar 2024.
About Chinese National Treasure Series
中華國寶系列 Chinese National Treasure series feature specific artefacts and relics from museums all around the world that are historically significant to be considered a National Treasure. The series covers the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation from Neolithic periods before the Xia dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BC) to modern day.
Footnotes :
- 晋侯墓地出土的青铜器有大量铭文，出现的晋侯名字有5个，其中8号墓有晋侯苏，《史记·晋世家》：“十八年，侯卒，子献侯籍立。”索引云：《系本》及谯周皆作“稣”。二者吻合。以此为基点，结合对其他铜器铭文的研究以及对墓葬形制、青铜器、陶器的形式观察，专家们大致推定9组墓葬是西周时期至春秋早期的九代晋侯及夫人墓葬：晋侯燮父、武侯、成侯、厉侯、靖侯、僖侯、献侯、穆侯、文侯。https://baike.baidu.com/item/晋侯鸟尊/3699321, accessed 30 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- 出土于第一代晋侯變父之墓。整体作鸟形，器盖及腹部内壁均铸铭文“晋侯乍（作）向太室宝尊彝”。凤鸟伫立回眸，象首隐于鸟尾，构思奇特，造型艺术和实用功能完美融于一体。 ↩︎
- “太室”即宗庙，表明这是晋侯宗庙祭祀的礼器，应《周礼•春官•司尊彝》记载的“六尊六彝”中的“鸟彝”。 ↩︎
- 东汉许慎所作的《说文解字》上说彝是宗庙里常用的礼器。而许多青铜器上有“作宝彝”或“作宝尊彝”的字样，所以，古人就常以“鼎彝”或是“尊彝”二字代表祭祀用礼器的通称，并不专指某种特定形式的器型。《尔雅》释器：彝、卣、罍，器也。郭璞注：皆盛酒尊，彝其总名。
《周礼·春官》中，设有司尊彝的官员，其职掌便是在祭祀时掌理尊、彝的准备及摆设。共有六种彝器：鸡彝、鸟彝、黄彝、虎彝、蜼彝、斝彝，分别属不同祭仪中使用。https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/彝器, accessed 30 Nov 2025 ↩︎ - 整体作鸟形，器盖及腹部内壁均铸铭文“晋侯乍（作）向太室宝尊彝”。 ↩︎
- 晋侯鸟尊在晋侯墓地的114号墓中出土，在发掘时工作人员发现该墓有盗洞，部分文物已被盗掘，由于盗贼的爆破，幸存的鸟尊出土时已支离破碎受损严重，特别是鸟尊的尾部残缺不全，之后经由北京大学的文物修复专家修复才得以重现本来面目。https://baike.baidu.com/item/晋侯鸟尊/3699321, accessed 30 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- Junli Diao (2014), “A cataloger’s navigation of “Fu hao”, “fu hao”, “fuHao” or “fu Hao”? A cataloger’s navigation of an ancient Chinese woman’s name an ancient Chinese woman’s name“, CUNY York College, https://academicworks.cuny.edu/yc_pubs/228, accessed 30 Nov 2025 – Pre-Qin Chinese personal names are intertwined with characters that indicates the sequence of siblings “伯” (Bo) or “孟” (Meng), “仲” (Zhong), “叔” (Shu), and “季” (Ji) and titles of royalty, nobility, and ranks of officials “候” (Hou), “公” (Gong), “王” (Wang), “士” (Shi), “卿” (Qing), “大夫” (Dai fu), “君” (Jun), “父” (Fu), “子” (Zi), “郎” (Lang) and “尹” (Yin). What distracts catalogers’ attention is that some of those characters are also used as very popular modern Chinese surnames which require capitalizations. ↩︎
- 《左传·昭公十二年》：齐，王舅也。
皇甫谧《帝王世纪》：“武王妃，太公之女，曰邑姜。修教于内，生太子诵。” ↩︎ - I always wanted to do this as an inside joke 🙂 ↩︎
- 《史记·晋世家》:”成王与叔虞戏，削桐叶为珪以与叔虞，曰:’以此封若。’史佚因请择日立叔虞。成王曰:’吾与之戏耳。’史佚曰:’天子无戏言。言则史书之，礼成之，乐歌之。’于是遂封叔虞于唐。” ↩︎
- Shu Yu of Tang 唐叔虞 – Tang: because he was conferred the land of Tang, Shu: third son; Yu: his name. His family name is Ji, so he is also known as 姬虞 ↩︎
- 桐叶封弟，汉语成语，拼音tóng yè fēng dì，指帝王封赏的典故，源自周成王剪桐叶为圭形封赐其弟叔虞之事 。
该典故记载于《吕氏春秋》与《史记》，两书细节略异：《吕氏春秋》载成王戏言封唐叔虞于晋，经周公以“天子无戏言”劝谏后正式册封 ；《史记》则记史佚执言“天子言则史书之”，促使叔虞受封于唐，辖河汾以东百里之地 。后世多以此为君王慎言重诺之例。
唐代柳宗元撰《桐叶封弟辩》质疑此事，晋祠即奉祀叔虞而建。其子燮因境内晋水改国号为“晋”，成为山西简称来源。高适诗句“剪桐光宠锡”及清代徐开任“桐封爱子”皆沿用此典 。https://baike.baidu.com/item/桐叶封弟/5988851?fromModule=lemma_inlink, accessed 30 Nov 2025 ↩︎ - The Record did not mention it was Duke of Zhou although popular believes often inferred this to be truth. The Record did write that it was Shi Yi 史佚, aka Yinyi 尹佚 who was an official Grand Historian 太史. ↩︎
- “天子无戏言”是源自西周时期的汉语成语，其核心语义强调帝王言行的庄重性与权威性。该成语最早见于《吕氏春秋·重言》记载的”桐叶封弟”典故：周成王以桐叶为信物戏言分封叔虞，史官援引”天子无戏言”的礼制规范促使承诺兑现。作为主谓结构的中性成语，其语法功能包含作宾语、定语或分句使用，常见于阐释帝王诚信品格的语境。https://baike.baidu.com/item/天子无戏言/543903, accessed 30 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- King Cheng of Zhou reigned from ~1042-1021 BC, Duke Ji Dan of Zhou was his regent between 1042–1035 BC; so that would place this event to happen before 1035BC. ↩︎
- 晋文公（前671年—前628年10月27日），姬姓，晋氏，名重chóng耳，晋献公之子，春秋时期著名的政治家，晋国国君，在位九年，在赵衰（赵国先祖）、狐偃、贾佗、先轸、魏武子（魏国先祖）、介之推等人的辅佐下，成为春秋五霸之一，开创了晋国长达一个多世纪的中原霸权，为后来的三晋（赵国、魏国、韩国）位列战国七雄奠定了基础。https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/晋文公, accessed 30 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- 春秋五霸，「五霸」又作「五伯」，是指東周春秋時期相繼稱霸的五個諸侯。其說首見于《左傳》。該詞常與戰國七雄並稱。 目前說法有兩種主流：
齊桓公、晋文公、秦穆公、宋襄公、楚莊王（可記為：齊晉秦宋楚）；
齊桓公、晉文公、楚莊王、吴王阖闾、越王勾踐（可記為：齊晉楚吳越）。https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/春秋五霸, accessed 30 Nov 2025 ↩︎ - 韩昭侯十年（公元前349年），史书有“韩姬（韩玘）弑其君悼公”的记载。 ↩︎
- 三家分晋是指东周时代，晋国被韩、赵、魏三氏为首的晋大夫势力所瓜分的事件。因此韩、赵、魏三国又被合称为“三晋”，周威烈王二十三年（前403年）周天子始封三家为诸侯国。司马光的编年体史书《资治通鉴》的记载就从这一事件开始：“周威烈王二十三年，初命晋大夫魏斯、赵籍、韩虔为诸侯……”，作为春秋与战国的分界。历史上有时以本年作为战国元年。但注意晋国此时并未完全灭亡，而还有两城留存。之后晋、赵、魏、韩四国共同存在了27年，在前376年，末代晋国君主晋静公被贬为庶人，晋国公室余地被韩、赵完全瓜分，晋国才彻底灭亡，其宗庙祭祀断绝。https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/三家分晋, accessed 30 Nov 2025 ↩︎
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