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AN INSCRIBED ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL evolved over the centuries, derived from pottery tripod
FOOD VESSEL (LIDING) vessels made in the preceding Neolithic period. Used during
LATE SHANG / EARLY WESTERN ZHOU ritual ceremonies as food or cooking vessels, ding continued
to play an important role in the Shang and Zhou dynasties,
DYNASTY as evidenced by the large numbers found in royal tombs.
the deep bowl divided into three lobes each resting on a The tomb of Fu Hao in Anyang, for example, contained over
columnar leg tapering slightly toward the foot, the everted twenty-six vessels of this type.
rim set with a pair of plain loop handles, each lobe of the The design of such large taotie masks covering the globular
body finely cast with a taotie mask with protruding eyes lobed body of the vessel, and featuring protruding eyes,
and horns, flanked by descending serpentine creatures, all raised curled horns and curved fangs, is a motif most
against a dense leiwen ground and below a further leiwen frequently found in the Shang/Western Zhou transitional
band, the interior cast with a single character inscription ya period. Excavations in 1984 of tomb M1713 in Anyang, Henan,
Height 8½ in., 21.6 cm revealed a liding of similar design, the Ya Yu Ding, recorded in
the Institute of Archaeology CASS, Yinxu xin chutu qingtongqi
PROVENANCE [Ritual bronzes recently excavated in Yinxu], Beijing, 2008,
C. T. Loo & Co., New York, by 1976. pl. 196. See also four similarly decorated lobed vessels,
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leo S. Bing. illustrated in Robert Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur
Christie’s New York, 24th March 2004, lot 107. M. Sackler Collections, Cambridge, 1987, nos 93-95.
American Private Collection. See an early Western Zhou liding cast with the same single
Christie’s New York, 13th September 2018, lot 1104. ya character as the present bronze in the National Palace
Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Wu Zhenfeng, Shang Zhou
EXHIBITED
qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of
Ancient Ritual Bronzes of China, Los Angeles County inscriptions and images of bronzes from the Shang and
Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1976, cat. no. 16. Zhou dynasties], Shanghai, vol. 1, 2012, pl. 81. See also a late
Shang dynasty ding with the same inscription, now in the
LITERATURE Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, illustrated in ibid., pl. 79; and
Chen Mengjia, Meidiguozhuyi jielue de woguo Yin Zhou another late Shang dynasty fangding excavated in a Shang
tongqi jilu [Compilation of Yin and Zhou archaic bronzes in dynasty tomb in Anyang, illustrated in ibid., pl. 78.
America], Beijing, 1962, no. A49 and R447.
Zhou Fagao, Sandai jijin wencun bu [Supplements of ⊖ $ 200,000-300,000
surviving writings from the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties],
Taipei, 1980, pl. 447. 商末 / 西周初 亞鼎
Yan Yiping, Jinwen Zongji [Corpus of Bronze Inscriptions],
Taipei, 1983, pl. 102. 銘文：
The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social 亞
Sciences, Yin Zhou jinwen jicheng [Compendium of Yin and
Zhou Bronze Inscriptions], Beijing, 1984, pl. 01147. 來源：
The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social 盧芹齋，紐約，1976年已購入
Sciences, ed., Yinzhou jinwen jicheng shiwen [Interpretations Leo S. Bing 伉儷收藏
of the compendium of Yin and Zhou bronze inscriptions], vol. 紐約佳士得2004年3月24日，編號107
2, Hong Kong, 2001, no. 1147. 美國私人收藏
Wu Zhenfeng, Shang Zhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang
jicheng [Compendium of Inscriptions and Images of Bronzes 紐約佳士得2018年9月13日，編號1104
from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties], vol. 1, Shanghai, 2012, 展覽：
no. 82. 《Ancient Ritual Bronzes of China》，洛杉磯郡藝術博
Yan Zhibin, ed., Shangdai qingtongqi mingwen fenqi duandai yanjiu
/ The Dating Study of Bronze Inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty, 物館，洛杉磯，1976年，編號16
Beijing, 2014, p. 378, nos 0235-01147 and p. 914, no. 0235. 出版：
Associated with royal power, ding were among the most 陳夢家，《美帝國主義劫掠的我國殷周銅器集錄》，
significant objects produced in China’s Bronze Age, 北京，1962年，編號A49及R447
legitimizing a ruler’s authority to lead the religio-political
complex. According to legend, King Yu, founder of the Xia 周法高，《三代吉金文存補》，台北，1980年，編
dynasty, cast nine large bronze ding, one for each of the nine 號447
provinces in his kingdom. This form, which continuously 嚴一萍，《金文總集》，台北，1983年，編號102
中國社會科學院考古研究所編，《殷周金文集成》，
北京，1984年，編號01147
中國社會科學院考古研究所編，《殷周金文集成釋
文》，卷2，香港，2001年，編號1147
吳鎮烽，《商周青銅器銘文暨圖像集成》，卷1，上
海，2012年，編號82
嚴志斌編，《商代青銅器銘文分期斷代研究》，北
京，2014年，頁378，編號0235-01147及頁914，編號0235

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