说爵

On Jue-cup

西周及其前的青铜器中常见的三足爵在当今普遍被认为是饮酒器或温酒器,而《说文》中载其为礼器。本文就三足爵流长不便就饮、容量小的形制特征,以及当时饮冷酒的习俗,判断其非日常使用;又根据出土爵底部有烟炱和某些爵的结构拢火以及内盛祭神的鬯酒等判断,其实为祭祀中用于歆、的礼器,流行时限可至西周晚期。除三足爵外,另有瓒形爵,用于祭礼;以及稍后出现的雀形爵,因"爵""雀"同音,而进一步强调雀的形象;还有至南宋以后发展出便于使用的杯形爵。此外,爵还作为酒器的通称使用。

Jue-cup, a three-legged bronze vessel popular in the Western Zhou Dynasty and previous periods, is widely seen as a drinking vessel or a wine-warmer, but in Shuowen(Explanation and Study of Principles of Composition of Characters, by Xu Shen) it is classified as a ritual vessel. Referring to its characteristics such as having a spout too long for drinking and a too small capacity, as well as the habit of drinking wines in normal temperature at the time when it was popular, this paper suggests that the juecup is not a drinking vessel for daily use;meanwhile, referring to the soot seen on the outer bottoms of some jue-cups unearthed archaeologically, and the fact that some jue have structure for gathering flame and/or remains of wine for sacrificing, this paper suggests that the jue is actually a ritual vessel used in the xin( releasing flavor of the offerings to let the deities come to enjoy) and guan( libation)ceremonies, which was continued down to the late Western Zhou Dynasty. Except for three-legged juecup, ladle-shaped jue-cup was also made for sacrificial ceremonies;a little later, sparrow-shaped juecup also appeared because the name of sparrow "que" and jue were homophones, the figure of sparrow was emphasized. After the Southern Song Dynasty, cup-shaped jue which was more ergonomic was developed.In addition, the noun jue is also used as the general term of wine vessels.