Lacquered Dou Cup of Phoenix and Lotus

This lacquered dou artifact was excavated from the Tian Xing Guan Chu tomb in Jingzhou City, Hubei Province. It was used as a sacrificial vessel during the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.). This lacquered dou cup has a peculiar shape, containing elements of lotus flowers, birds and snakes. It is mainly painted with black lacquer, having detailed patterns in red and yellow lacquer on its surface. It reflects the romantic and strange artistic characteristics of the Chu culture. The mechanics of the lacquered dou cup are ingeniously designed with the structure of a phoenix bird and a snake supporting each other, reflecting the superior lacquered objects’ manufacturing skills of Chu.

In Chu culture, lacquered dous were always ranked behind all the vessels during the sacrificial worship ritual. People first took the cooked meat out of the bronze ding, then cut it in the chopping board, and then put the cut meat into the lacquered dou for worship. There are two main types of lacquered dous used for worship: the first type is the funeral lacquered dou used for accompanying and communicating with the gods of the ideal world. The second category is the lacquered dous used to communicate with the sky during the ritual prayers, mainly lacquered dous in imitation of animal forms. The lacquered food containers of Chu represented by lacquer dous have both aristocrat and commoner character. Both the upper nobility to the lower commoners, can find their own identity and spiritual resonance in the lacquered food containers.