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Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, no. 15, rubbing
no. 13; and a fanglei formerly in the Qing imperial collection, now missing
its cover, in the Kurokawa Institute of Ancient Culture, Ashiya, illustrated in
Sueji Umehara, Nihon shucho shina kodo seika (Selected Relics of Ancient
Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Japan), vol. 1, Osaka, Yamanaka & Co.,
1959, no. 20. Besides the Ya Yi clan sign, the Kurokawa fanglei also bears
an inscription, xuanniao fu. Fu is the title of female members of the Shang
royal family and xuanniao may be translated as ‘black bird’. The origin myth
of the Shang recorded in the Shi jin (Book of Songs) and states: “heaven
commissioned the xuanniao to descend and give birth to the Shang” (see Shi
jin [Book of Songs], Shang song [Eulogies of Shang], xuanniao). Therefore,
Xuanniao Fu must have been an important member of the Shang royal family.
The coexistence between this royal inscription and the Ya Yi clan mark again
confrms the high status of the Ya Yi clan and its close relation with Shang
kings. In the late Yinxu to early Western Zhou period, the Ya Yi clan was
still very prominent, as demonstrated by the third Ya Yi bronze group that
includes the Xiaochen Yi Jia, dated by its inscription to the 6th year of the
reign of the last Shang king, now in the Saint Louis Art Museum, illustrated
in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji, vol. 3, op. cit., no. 53; and an early Western
Zhou zun vessel bearing a Ya Qi Yi clan mark sold at Sotheby’s New York, 17
September 2013, lot 5. It is important to note that Qi or Qi hou (Marquis of
Qi) is probably a new title conferred on the Ya Yi clan during this period.

Ink rubbing of the inscription on the present fangding as published by
Zhu Shanqi in Jingwuxinshi yiqi kuanzhi (Archaic Bronze Inscriptions in
the Jingwuxinshi Studio), 1908, vol. 1, p. 36.

and therefore established the Ya Yi clan (Cao Shuqin and Yin Weizhang, Ya
Yi tongqi jiqi xiangguan wenti, Beijing, 1986, p. 6). The Ya Yi clan fourished
during the late Shang and early Western Zhou dynasties as demonstrated
by more than two hundred extant ritual bronzes bearing the Ya Yi clan mark.
Archaeologists Cao Shuqin and Yin Weizhang divided Ya Yi bronzes into
three groups. The earliest group can be dated to the late second phase of the
Yinxu period, circa 1200 BC, contemporaneous with the tomb of Fuhao. This
group was discovered in the early 20th century, reputedly from a massive
tomb in Houjiazhuang village, Anyang city, and the most remarkable pieces
in this group include a massive covered pou in the Nezu Museum, Tokyo
(62.5 cm. high), illustrated in Catalogue of Selected Masterpieces from the
Nezu Collections: Decorative Art, Tokyo, 2001, no. 1; a pair of massive jia
vessels, one in the Nezu Museum, Tokyo (74.6 cm. high) illustrated ibid, no. 2,
the other in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (75.3 cm. high), illustrated
in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [The Complete Collection of Chinese
Bronzes], Beijing, 1997, vol. 3, no. 46; a massive zun in the Nezu Museum,
Tokyo (53.9 cm. high), illustrated in Nezu Collections: Decorative Art, op. cit.,
no. 7; and a unique egg-shaped tripod vessel in the Fujii Yurinkan Museum,
Kyoto, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [The Complete Collection
of Chinese Bronzes], Beijing, 1997, vol. 2, no. 64. (Fig. 1) Between 1934
and 1935, archaeologists from Academia Sinica systematically surveyed
and excavated the Houjiazhuang and Wuguan villages and confrmed that
this area was the Shang royal cemetery. The fact that Ya Yi bronzes were
found in the Shang royal cemetery demonstrates the close relationship
between the Ya Yi clan and the Shang royal family. The second Ya Yi group
is comprised of bronzes that were handed down since the 18th century
including the present fangding; a gui in the Idemitsu Collection, illustrated in

Ink rubbing of the inscription on the present fangding.
Rubbing by Li Zhi.

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