晋宁石寨山12号墓贮贝器上人物雕像考释

SOME NOTES ON THE SCULPTURE OF A SHELL-CONTAINER FROM TOMB 12 AT SHIZHAISHAN

云南晋宁县石寨山滇墓群的发掘,受到国内外学者的重视。其中12号墓出土的贮贝器(编号M12:26),器盖上雕铸的人物像,尤引人注目。冯汉骥先生最早对此人物像进行研究,认为图像的主题是"诅盟",在注释中又提到"也可能为社祭"的看法。以后研究者,或以为"其内容复杂,有些情节还难解释。由于照相本身的局限,发表的照片又不够明晰,对人物群雕的所在位置及其相互关系的了解,不能不受到极大的限制,从而妨碍深入研究。作者因工作上的方便,随时可以观察实物,对此人物图象逐渐形成了自己的一些看法。于是绘制展示图,试为考释。不揣谫陋,难免谬误,敬请读者指正。

Tomb 12 at Shizhaishan, Jinning, Yunnan seems to belong to one of the kings of the Dian State in the Western Han Dynasty. A bronze shell-container (No. 26) from it has a cover decorated with 129 human figures, some animals as being held or tied by men and musical instruments, placed either at a pavilion or around a stele and a column, showing a ceremonial scene, which was identified as an oath ceremony, in the opinion of the author, a burial rite seems to be a more reasonable explanation, as what is told by the sculpture bears much similarity to the correspondent depicture in literary records. The ceremony represented on the container may be the so-called yin rite which was offered to the kings of the Dian State and consisted of a series of programs such as killing animals playing music, offering human sacrifice, etc. The stele and the column serves just as a tangible proof of the pattern of 'worshiping ancestor and gods with a left monument and a right one respectively' in ancient Chinese ritual architecture. All this indicates that the sculpture is of much value to studying the social and cultural aspects of the Dian State as well as to researches into the origin of the culture in the territory of Yunnan and its relations with those in other parts of ancient China.