Page 185 - Christies March 15 2017 Fujita Museum

Square (fang) vessels had great signifcance to Shang ruling elites and are much more rare
than their rounded-form counterparts. The frst vessel type to be cast in square cross section
is the ding, such as the massive early Shang fangding (100 cm. high) found in Duling, Zhengzhou
city, illustrated in Shangyi yiyi sifang zhiji, Hefei, 2013, p. 61. Scholars have noted that the casting of
fangding is more dificult than round ding and that massive fangding vessels were reserved for nobility
of the highest rank and symbolize royal power, (see ibid., p. 60). During the late Shang dynasty, a few
other select vessel types were also made in a square shape, such as fangzun.

Fangzun of such a large size and with such fne casing such as the Fujita example are exceptionally
rare. Two fangzun vessels of very similar form but decorated with dissolved elements of taotie in
the mid and lower sections include one in the Sumitomo Collection, Kyoto, and one in the Hunan
Provincial Museum, illustrated in Sen-oku Hakko: Chugoku kodoki hen, Kyoto, 2002, p. 60, no. 69, and
‘Min’ Fanglei and Selected Bronze Vessels Unearthed from Hunan, Shanghai, 2015, no.7, respectively.
A pair of fangzun vessels of smaller size bearing Ya Zhi clan signs were found in Guojiazhuang
M160, Anyang City, and are illustrated by Yue Hongbin ed., Ritual Bronzes Recently Excavated in
Yinxu, Kunming, 2008, nos. 125, 126 (43.9 cm. high) and no. 127 (44.3 cm. high). It is interesting to
note that the animal heads in relief on the shoulder of the two Ya Zhi fangzun are removable, unlike
the sculptural fgures on the Fujita fangzun which are fxed on the shoulder by casting. Compare,
also, a pair of fangzun formerly in the Qing imperial collection and now separated, one in the Palace
Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Bronzes Gallery of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2012, no. 11, and the
other in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace
Museum Collection, Taipei, 1998, no. 88. These two fangzun are more closely related to the Ya Zhi
fangzun in shape and decoration and bear nine-character inscriptions: ya chou zhu si yi tai zi zun yi
('Zhusi from the Ya Chou clan made this ritual vessel for princes'). The Ya Chou was a clan active in
the late Shang dynasty in modern day Shandong province. Between 1965 and 1966, archaeologists
found the cemetery of the Ya Chou clan in Sufutun, Qingzhou City, Shandong province. One of the
tombs in the Ya Chou clan cemetery is cross-shaped with four ramps, a format used for tombs of
Shang kings. The National Palace Museum has two further fangzun bearing Ya Chou clan signs (see
ibid., nos. 89 and 90). All three Ya Chou fangzun in the National Palace Museum are dated to the late
Anyang period (12th-11th century BC). The projections on top of the fanges around the mid sections
of the Ya Chou fangzun and the fact that their lower sections are cast without clay core extension
holes indeed indicate a later date than the Fujtia fangzun.

One of the most remarkable features of the Fujita fangzun are the three-dimensional mythical bird-like
creatures that adorn each corner of the shoulder. They feature prominent hooked beaks, wings, curled

tails, and most notably bottle-horned monster masks
that crown the birds’ heads. Similar bird-like creatures
appear on the aforementioned Sumitomo fangzun, as well
as in a small bronze zun wine vessel in the Art Institute
of Chicago. (Fig. 1) The hybrid between mythical animal
and real animal/bird is a common way of creating new
motifs in Shang bronze art. The Shang people’s interest
in hybrid animals can also be seen in the kui dragons with
elephant trunks in the top band of the mid-section of the
Fujita fangzun. In fact, the horns of the main taotie motif
on the Fujita fangzun are replaced by pairs of bottle-
horned kui dragons shown in profle. Similar depictions of
taotie with dragon horns can be found on a hu vessel sold
at Christie’s New York, 16 September 2010, lot 831, and
a massive pou vessel in the Nezu Museum, illustrated in
the Nezu Museum, Kanzo In Shu no seidoki, Tokyo, 2009,
p. 25, no. 5.

Fig. 1. Bird-Shaped Wine Vessel, Shang
dynasty (c. 1600-1050 BC), Lucy Maud
Buckingham Collection, Art Institue of
Chicago, 1936.139, The Art Institute of Chicago
/ Art Resource, NY.
圖一 商晚期 青銅鳥尊 芝加哥藝術博物館藏

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