西周遣器新識──否叔尊銘之啟示

The Inscriptions of Pi Shu Zun (否叔尊) －Shedding New Light on Dispatch Wares (遣器) of the Western Zhou－A Summary

古代遣冊所載隨葬器物，或為實用器或為明器。然明器一名實後出。《禮記‧檀弓下》：「其曰明器，神明之也，塗車芻靈，自古有之，明器之道也。」其後凡施於神者多冠以明字，如明水、明火、明燭云者是也。筆者新近得見一組同坑出土帶銘青銅器，計尊一、卣一、爵二、觶一、觚二，共七器，其中尊及卣銘雖僅一十七字，然明示「否叔獻彝」、「用遣母霝」，其他觚、爵等諸器或書「用遣母霝」或僅書「用」、「遣」，可見該組銅器皆為隨葬而鑄製。由此推論西周隨葬器實可逕呼曰「遣」器。由於是組銅器鑄製厚重，尊器花紋亦頗精美，與實用器無大分別。可見西周隨葬物中，倘無特別標示，實用器與明器或未見嚴加劃分，蓋端視其用途而定者也。《儀禮‧既夕》：「書遣于策」。鄭注：「遣，猶送也。」遣冊之遣義，無非西周遣器之孑遺耳。

The burial items listed in the ancient Manual of Dispatch Objects (遣冊) are either functional wares (實用器) or ritual wares (明器) ; however, the latter term was only used later on. The chapter Tan Gong (檀弓) of The Book of Li Ji (禮記) states: ''they were called ritual wares because they were offerings to the gods. There is a long standing custom of offering imitation chariots and hay mannequins to the spirits and thus, these ritual items were made for the same purpose.'' Later, the character of EJI was added to any offering, for example 明水 ('ritual' water) and 明火 ('ritual' fire). However, the true meaning attached is different to that used in ritual wares (明器). The writer of this article recently acquired a total of seven inscribed bronze vessels that were most likely excavated from the same tomb. Items include: one wine container (zun-beaker), one wine container (yu-flask), two wine goblets (jue-wine-cup), one wine goblet (zhi-wine-cup), and two wine goblets (ku-beaker). The wine containers zun and yu both bear seventeen characters, clearly stating that Pi Shu (否叔) dedicated the vessel and it was dispatched for his mother's natural death. The other characters were either inscribed with the sentence ''dispatched for mother's natural death'' (用遣母霝) or just the words ''dispatched for'' (用遣). This shows that the bronze vessels were made for burial only. We can then say that in the Western Zhou period all the burial items are called dispatch wares (遣器). This group of bronze vessels were made using very good castings and the decorations were almost always attractive. Even though this was the case, there were no significant differences compared with normal functional wares. This suggests that unless there are special indications on the burial items of Western Zhou, it is difficult to classify ritual and functional wares. Chapter Ji Xi (既夕) of The Book of Yi Li (儀禮) mentions a Manual of Dispatch Objects in bamboo tablet form, where the individual items of a burial should be written (書遣於冊). Zheng Xun (鄭玄) of the Eastern Han period later annotated, ''dispatch (遣) means send.'' This article thus shows that the word 'dispatch' 遣 from the Manual of Dispatch Objects (遣冊) had its true origin in the Western Zhou period.