Bronze Gui vessel by Duke of Deng
Western Zhou
Height: 20.7 cm, weight:4.78 kg,
State grade one collection
Excavated from the cemetery of Ying State in 1984, housed by Pingdingshan Museum

This food vessel, used by the aristocrats of the Ying State, has a  domed cover with a trumpet-shaped finial, compressed globular body with a pair of animal head-shaped handles holding a ring with its jaw.
The body and the cover are encircled by horizontal grooves and hook scrolls. Underneath the foot ring are three flat legs with zoomorphic design at the top. The interior bottom is inscribed with 12 characters in 3 lines, literally, the monarch of Deng State commissioned the bronze gui vessel as his daughter, Ying Manpi’s dowry, hopefully she could cherish it forever. This is a bronze ritual vessel used as a part of dowry.

Deng State, covering the present northwest region of Hubei province, was one of the vassal states authorized by the Zhou court, with its monarch surnamed Man. The discovery of this vessel verified the real existence of the Ying State, and its inscription proved the good relationship between the Deng State and the Ying State due to the royal marriage.

The sunset of three thousand yeas ago cast a dazzling light on the land of Pingdingshan. History becomes vague over times, but it can not deter the later generations from admiring their ancestors.