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Fig. 1. Ya Yi bronzes reputedly from Houjiazhuang village, Anyang, now in various Japanese museums. After Zhongguo
qingtongqi quanji (The Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes), Beijing, 1997, vol. 2, p. 24, fg. 4.

Symbolizing royal power, fangding vessels had great signifcance for Shang ruling elites. The largest
extant Shang bronze ritual vessel is the Si Mu Wu fangding, measuring 133 cm. high and weighing 875
kilograms, found in Wuguan village, Anyang city, in 1939, and now in the National Museum of China (See
Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji: Shang 2 [Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes: Shang], vol. 2, Beijing,
1997, p. 48, no. 47). While the massive fangding vessels were made exclusively for the kings and queens,
fangding of regular size were reserved for high-ranking aristocrats only. The present Ya Yi fangding is a
superbly cast tour de force. There appears to be a few published examples that may be cited as parallels.
A late Shang fangding (27 cm. high) of similar form and decoration, but with an additional small
taotie mask between the confronted kui dragons on each of the broad sides, was formerly in the Cull
Collection, and is illustrated by W. Yetts in The Cull Chinese Bronzes, London, 1939, no. I. Another similar
late Shang fangding (27.6 cm. high) is in the Meiyintang Collection, and is illustrated by C. Deydier in
Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, Annexe, Hong Kong, 2013, no. 46. Compare,
also, an early Western Zhou fangding (25.5 cm. high) with a twenty one-character inscription sold at
Sotheby’s London, 13 May 2015, lot 103.

The patron of this magnifcent bronze vessel did indeed belong to a very powerful and signifcant clan,
the Ya Yi clan. The clan mark Ya Yi comprises a ya cruciform shape and the name Yi. In the Shang
dynasty, clans with the ya added to their clan mark are believed to be those that were conferred with
the title of Marquis. Epigraphist Wang Xiantang (1896-1960) pointed out that there is a royal diviner by
the name of Yi during the Shang Kings Zugeng’s and Zujia’s reigns, who probably earned the title of ya

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