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Early Inspiration for the Creation of the Gu Vessel
Throughout the hundreds of Neolithic to early dynastic sites discovered in China, ritual vessels ranging from clay to bronze are often found in the tombs of these sites. The form, shapes, and décor, provide hints to the every vessel’s function as well as the early beliefs that inspired them. Early Chinese religion has been difficult for scholars to understand due to a lack of extensive archaeological evidence on Neolithic religious philosophies and ritual practices. The early Shang dynasty, however, had a much more concrete religion in regards to beliefs and practices ranging from ancestor worship to funerary rituals, and a developed system to perform sacrifices. As these beliefs could have extended back into earlier periods in China, a common center of worship included such elements such as ancestors, fertility concerns as well as other spirits or gods of the natural elements.

The ritual vessels of early China are an extension of the spiritual or religious world, in which the powers that seemed to exist in nature may have carried a high influence in the inspiration of the vessels. The powers of nature included those that could have resided in animals, plants, water, sickness, death, and eventually the afterlife, all of which coexisted with people strengthening the need for maintaining harmony between the two worlds.

The gu vessel, one of many ritual vessels, served a role in the connection between the earthly and spiritual realm. In Book 6, verse 25, of the Confucian Analects, a gu is referred to as a cup to be drunk from specifically in religious sites but first by the rulers of the Shang dynasty. It’s functional use for a human rather than a spirit is also noted based on the construction of the gu vessel for its design is logical in that it can hold liquid and can be easily held in one’s hand unlike other wine vessels.

Function
The only evidence we have of ritual use of this vessel is its strong association with wine, spirits, and high class rulers. Later engraved vessels help support the significance of ritual wine drinking as part of ritual ceremony. The gu vessel appears in an engraving of a ritual scene found on a yi vessel discovered in a tomb in Shaanxi in which the gu being used in the engraving highly resembles the gu of the Shang.

The Name
The term gu, had not been ever previously found inscribed on any other vessels and the first mention of this term was not until the 11th century found in early artist and antiquarian, Li Gonglin’s writings. Li, a painter and avid collector of early bronzes, is credited for designating the name of the gu vessel based on an experiment and the character’s meaning of “ridge.”