Page 173 - Christies March 15 2017 Fujita Museum

Fig. 8. Bronze gong vessel with pheonix pattern, late Shang dynasty, 8 5 in. (21.9 cm.) long. Collection of the Yangxian
Museum. After Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji (The Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes), vol. 4, Beijing, 1998, no. 91.
圖八 商晚期 青銅鳳紋觥 陝西洋縣博物館藏

same foundry.8 According to current research on the Shang dynasty bronzes from the Yangtze River
region, similar vessels cast in the South predate their counterparts in Anyang. Anyang bronzes with
Southern infuence were cast after the immigration of Southern craftsmen into Anyang during the
reign of King Wu Ding.9 Therefore, the date of the Fujita gong should also be early Yinxu period. One
technological trait also indicates that the Fujita ram-form gong was made in Southern China: the
counterparts on the interior wall of the relief areas, such as the eyes and wings of the phoenix pattern
have comforming recessed areas. This is a technique commonly employed by Southern craftsmen to
ensure an even thickness of the vessel walls.

Except for the ram-shaped gong of Southern origin, the three other Fujita vessels examined here
are classic Anyang bronzes. They are contemporaneous to those found in the tomb of Fu Hao and
yet their aesthetic and technical achievement are beyond those bronzes belonging to Fu Hao. Their
diferences suggest these three bronzes were made for someone of higher status, possibly a king.

Su Rongyu

Professor, Institute for History of Natural Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Ling'ao Tong

Christie’s New York, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

9 Su Rongyu, ‘Hunansheng bowuguan cang liangjian dakouzhejian qingtong yuanzun de yanjiu’ (Research on Two Bronze Zun
Vessels in the Hunan Provincial Museum), Hunan Shang Xizhou qingtongqi guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwen (Essays from the
International Symposium on Shang and Western Zhou Bronzes from Hunan), Changsha: 27-28 August 2015; Su Rongyu,
‘Anyang yinxu qingtong jishuyuanyuan de Shangdai nanfang yinsu’ (The Southern Origin of Bronze Techniques Found on
Anyang Yinxu Bronzes), Quanwu toushang: quanwu boguguan qingtongqi toushe saomiao jiexi (Analysis of Bronzes in the
Sumitomo Collection Based on CT Scanning Images), Beijing, 2015, pp. 352-386.

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