What they found in the realm that just vanished

Shanghai Museum had rubbings made from the inscriptions and has mounted rubbings alongside the objects to highlight the vivid details.

Nineteen objects on display have been borrowed from Suizhou Museum. Sun Jianhui, its vice director, said, archaeologists began to make sporadic discoveries in Suizhou as early as the 1970s and in 2007 an important batch of 27 bronze pieces was unearthed from an ancient tomb of Mount Yangzi. They were fine artifacts with exotic patterns and exquisite designs, and more importantly the inscriptions of Marquis of E, as well as large number of funerary objects, revealed the identity of the tomb owner.

The discovery brought historians' attention to the long-lost state of E. As an important ruler of a vassal state of the Zhou Dynasty, the marquis of E guarded the southern border of the kingdom and had close ties with the imperial court.

The bronze objects showed a distinctive style. Chinese bronze from the Zhou Dynasty often featured patterns of animal masks and on some objects unearthed in Suizhou the bronze vessels showed facial features that combined those of humans and animals. Speaking of a bronze wine vessel named You decorated with animal masks on the sides, Sun, standing next to the exhibit, said: "The eyes are obviously human. Even the eyebrows are vividly depicted."

The unique features of animal masks on the bronzes of E State made their objects look especially friendly, in contrast to fierce beasts often found on other bronze animal masks, he said.

"We have selected our finest pieces to be shown in Shanghai Museum."

Shanghai Museum has demonstrated its prowess in research and in putting on exhibitions, he said.

"They had some objects CT scanned and made important new findings about the bronze processing techniques in ancient China." Two tripod cauldrons, one from a private collector and the other from the National Museum of China, have a prominent role in the exhibition. They present a dramatic turning point in the story of E State, said Wei Xinying, a researcher with Shanghai Museum.

Inscriptions on the first cauldron recorded a pleasant banquet the Marquis of E held for the Zhou king. It was such a joyful event, with wine, arrow-shooting games and valuable gifts bestowed by the king, so that the cauldron was made to commemorate the occasion.