聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

散見簡牘合輯‧湖北江陵鳳凰山一六七號漢墓木簡、木楬

7 min read

Text ID
KR2p0127
Date
-180–-150
Dynasty
漢

Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí‧Húběi Jiānglíng Fènghuángshān Yīliùqī Hào Hànmù Mùjiǎn、Mù Jié 散見簡牘合輯‧湖北江陵鳳凰山一六七號漢墓木簡、木楬

Collected Scattered Documents — Wooden Slips and Wooden Tags from Han Tomb no. 167 at Fènghuángshān, Jiānglíng, Hubei

(anonymous; burial inventory with item tags)

About the work

A set of wooden slips (mùjiǎn 木簡) and wooden inventory tags (mùjié 木楬) from Han tomb no. 167 at Fènghuángshān 鳳凰山, Jiānglíng 江陵 (modern Jīngzhōu 荊州), Hubei Province. The slips record a burial inventory of vehicles, animals, attendant slaves, vessels, and food; the wooden tags (jié 楬) are small labels tied directly to items in the tomb to identify them. Published in KR2p 散見簡牘合輯 (Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí), Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1990.

Abstract

Fènghuángshān tomb 167 is adjacent to tomb 168 (see KR2p0126) and is dated to the same general period, the early Western Han. The documents from tomb 167 are notable for the combination of a conventional burial inventory (suízàng pǐn jì 隨葬品籍) with physical mùjié 木楬 — small wooden name-tags attached to objects in the tomb, one of the earliest examples of this labelling practice in Han funerary archaeology.

Vehicles and transport. The inventory opens: “One light chariot (yào yī chéng 軺一乘); two roan male horses, age six years (liú mǔ mǎ èr pǐ chǐ liù suì 騮牡馬二匹，齒六歲); one driver (yù zhě yī rén 御者一人); one purple canopy (zǐ gài yī 紫盖一); two usher attendants (yè zhě èr rén 謁者二人); two serving women in embroidered robes, large female slaves (shì nǚzǐ èr rén, dà bì 侍女子二人，大婢); two errand serving women in embroidered robes, large female slaves (zé shì nǚzǐ èr rén, xiù yī, dà bì 責侍女子二人，綉衣，大婢); two nursing women in embroidered robes, large female slaves (yǎng nǚzǐ èr rén, xiù yī, dà bì 養女子二人，綉衣，大婢); one ox driver, one large male slave (niú zhě yī rén, dà nú yī rén 牛者一人，大奴一人); two women holding combs in embroidered [robes], large female slaves (nǚzǐ èr rén chí shū bì, xiù, dà bì 女子二人持疎枇，綉，大婢); one ox-cart (niú niú chē yī liǎng 牛牛車一兩); four large male slaves for loading (chuāng dà nú sì rén 刱大奴四人); four large female slaves for stacking (zǎn dà bì sì rén 樍大婢四人); one small male slave holding □□□; one large male slave holding a spade (dà nú yī rén chí chǎ 大奴一人，持鍤); two small male slaves holding jiǎo-vessels (xiǎo nú èr rén chí jiǎo 小奴二人，持釪).”

Vessels and food items. The inventory continues with a detailed list of lacquerware and ceramics: one large shèng-container set (dà shèng yī hé 大盛一合), two chopstick-holders (kē èr méi 柯二枚), thirty sauce cups (jiàng bēi sānshí méi 醬桮卅枚), four yú-bowls (yú sì méi 盂四枚), four roasting vessel-holders (zhì bēi□ sì méi 炙卑㔸四枚), two small shèng-container sets (xiǎo shèng èr hé 小盛二合), one small dried-meat case (xiǎo fǔ jiǎn yī méi 小脯檢一枚), one large dried-meat case (dà fǔ jiǎn yī méi 大脯檢一枚), two three-dǒu flasks (sān dǒu hú èr méi 三斗壺二枚), six ruler-size vessel-holders (chǐ bēi□ liù méi 尺卑㔸六枚), twenty ink-black cups (mò bēi èrshí méi 墨桮廿枚), one small jar (xiǎo qǐ yī méi 小杞一枚), one sauce jar (jiàng qǐ yī méi 醬杞一枚), thirty lacquer cups (shāng bēi sānshí méi 傷桮卅枚), one large cabinet-box (dà xiá yī méi 大柙一枚), one one-dǒu case, one two-dǒu case, and various other vessels.

Ceramic vessels. Two one-shí ceramic jars (yī shí fǒu èr méi 一石缶二枚), two soup jars (jiāng yīng èr méi 漿甖二枚), one stove (zào yī méi 竈一枚), one grain-bin (qūn yī méi 囷一枚), two àng-vats (àng èr méi 盎二枚), two wine jars (jiǔ yīng èr méi 酒甖二枚), one fǔ-cauldron (fǔ yī méi 釜一枚), one steamer (yǎn yī méi 甗一枚).

Food items. Meat sauce (ròu jiàng yī qì 肉醬一器), fermented wine (gū jiǔ yī qì 酤酒一器), a jar of dye/indigo (lán qì yī 藍器一), mixed sauce (biàn jiàng yī qì 辦醬一器).

Textile bags with contents. Red embroidered bag containing □ (chì xiù tuó yī shèng □ 赤綉橐一盛□), azure-brocade bag containing □ (qīng qí tuó yī shèng □ 青奇橐一盛□), azure-brocade bag containing fragrance (qīng qí tuó yī shèng fēn 青奇橐一盛芬), embroidered bag containing “8,000 jīn [worth]” (xiù tuó yī shèng bāqiān jīn 綉橐一盛八千金), five-grain bag embroidered (wǔ gǔ tuó yī xiù 五穀橐一綉), plain embroidered bag containing “19,000 jīn [worth]” (sù xiù tuó yī shèng wàn jiǔqiān jīn 素綉橐一盛萬九千金), one silk basket, contents worth 20,000,000 coins (zēng sì hé zhōng zēng zhí èrqiān wàn 繒笥合中繒直二千萬).

Grain. Multiple entries: two shí each of hulled glutinous rice (dào □ mǐ èr shí 稻□米二石), glutinous millet (cí shú 粢秫二石), various types of polished and hulled grain, totalling ten separate two-shí entries.

Small items. Fan (shàn yī méi 扇一枚), chopstick-tube (zhá zhù shāo yī méi 札箸筲一枚), dried fish (gù yú yī méi 固魚一枚), and various baskets of fruit: jú-orange (jú luǒ yī méi 鞠笿一枚), madder (qiàn luǒ 茜笿一枚), tóng-tree fruit (tǒng luǒ 栂笿一枚), plum (lǐ dá 李答一枚), fresh tóng fruit, egg basket (luǎn luǒ 卵笿一枚), gathering basket (cǎi luǒ 采笿一枚), bamboo-shoot basket.

Wooden inventory tags. The mùjié 木楬 (wooden tags) are small shaped tablets tied to individual items to identify them. While the tag texts are not separately transcribed in the CHANT edition, the presence of mùjié in the inventory is confirmed by the title of the item group and by the notation in the heading. Such tags are attested at several other early Han Hubei sites and represent one of the organizational tools of Han funerary inventory practice.

The Fènghuángshān tomb 167 inventory is distinctive for its large assemblage of embroidered textile bags with coin-value notations (“8,000 jīn”, “19,000 jīn”, “20,000,000 coins”), which appear to be symbolic rather than literal, indicating the ritual wealth transferred to the deceased.

Translations and research

  • 中國社會科學院歷史研究所, 《散見簡牘合輯》, 文物出版社, 1990 — editio princeps.
  • 湖北省博物館, 「江陵鳳凰山漢墓發掘簡報」, 《文物》 1974.6, pp. 41–61 — excavation report.
  • Loewe, Michael. Records of Han Administration. 2 vols. Cambridge University Press, 1967.
  • Wu Hung. The Art of the Yellow Springs: Understanding Chinese Tombs. University of Hawai’i Press, 2010.

Graph View