However, inscriptions on the second cauldron show that the Marquis of E, who drank and dined with the king, rebelled and led a union army of southern tribes heading northward to fight against his erstwhile dining partner. The rebellion was defeated and the cauldron was made in tribute to the marshal who led the battle against the invaders.

"We don't know why the marquis of E rebelled, except that he didn't belong to the same clan as the king, so the latter may not have fully trusted him," Wei said.

The State of E all but vanished from Chinese history, and historians assumed it had been wiped out without any remaining trace.

In 2012 a cemetery was found at the work site of a water diversion project in Nanyang, Henan province. A remarkable batch of bronzes were unearthed, many bearing inscriptions that showed the tomb belonged to the Marquis of E. In the cemetery were the remains of nobles dating from the Late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period, including those of four marquises of E and their spouses.

Thirty-six of the objects from Nanyang are on display in Shanghai.

"Perhaps surviving members of the clan moved to Nanyang," Wei said, or perhaps the Zhou king assigned a different marquis of E and placed him in Nanyang. There are still a lot of unsolved mysteries about the ancient State of E."

IF YOU GO

A Legend of the Han and Huai Valleys: Selected Bronzes of the State of E

9 am-5 pm

(last entry by 4:30 pm), Tue-Sun.

Museum viewing reservations are required to be made on WeChat.

4F showroom, Shanghai Museum, 201 Renmin Avenue, Huangpu district, Shanghai.

021-6372-3500