Page 23 - Important Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes from a Distinguished European Collection

The inscription consists of two characters, fu yi, preceded by a composite clan sign. Fu yi is a
dedication which means (dedicate this vessel to) Fu Yi (Father Yi). The Shang people assigned one
of the ten Celestial Stems that each correspond to one day in a ten-day week to their deceased
ancestors. Some scholars suggest this association is based on the ancestors’ birth dates, while others
suggest it corresponds to the dates when they received oferings. The clan sign is a combination of
a pair of ears, which is known from a number of bronzes as a clan sign by itself, reading tie, and a
rectangle with a horizontal stroke in the center. A late Shang fangyi with an identical clan sign and Fu
Yi dedication, is illustrated by Huang Jun in Yezhong pianyu erji (Treasures from the Ye [Anyang] Series
II), Peking, 1937, vol. 1, p. 11. This fangyi and the present liding are both from the late Shang capital,
Anyang, and are likely to have been made for the same person.
Liding with large, relief-cast taotie masks on each lobe of the body represent one of the most popular
vessel types in the late Shang and early Western Zhou periods. Two very similar liding, from the
Sackler Collection, are illustrated by R. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler
Collections, Washington, D. C., 1987, pp. 486-91, nos. 93 and 94. In his entry for one of the Sackler
liding, no. 93, Bagley illustrates seven related liding to support his assertion that there was a “wide
geographic distribution of the type in late Anyang times”, with a continuation into the early Western
Zhou period.

本件鬲鼎内壁鑄有一個復合族徽，以及「父乙」兩字。父乙為受祭者的廟號，即此器為父乙的後人為他所作
之意。商人以干支作為先祖的廟號，對應商代一個十日的旬（一周）中的一天。此擧或為對應先祖的生日，也
有學者指出廟號的干支字對應的是先祖接受祭祀的日子。此器的族徽由「聑」以及一個長方形中間一橫的
兩個圖形文字組成。「聑」字可單獨成爲族徽，此處與另一個圖形文字復合成爲一個新的族徽。一件商晚期
的方彜與此器有完全一致的族徽，和「父乙」兩字，見黃濬，《鄴中片羽二集》，北平，1937年，上卷，頁11。
該方彜與本件鬲鼎應為同一人所做，都出自商晚期的首都安陽。
此類器腹飾三個高浮雕大獸面紋的鬲鼎是商晚期到西周早期最流行的青銅器類之一。賽克勒收藏中有兩件
近似的鬲鼎，著錄於R. Bagley，《Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections》，
華盛頓特區， 1987年，頁486-91，編號93及94。在論及前述編號93賽克勒鬲鼎時，Bagley引用了七件同
類的鬲鼎來論證此類器物在商晚期的廣大地域都非常流行，及其在西周早期持續的生産。

鐘鳴鼎食 - 歐洲顯赫私人珍藏青銅禮器 21