Page 117 - Sotheby's NYC September 20 2022 Forging An Empire Bronzes

his Western Han dynasty ding and cover bears three sets of inscriptions with the first long one
reading Zhou Zhi gong ding, rong wu dou, zhong er-shi ba jin, di er-shi yi. The latter part of the
Tinscription can be translated as ‘contains five dou (1 Han dou ≈ 2000 mL), weighs twenty-eight
jin (1 Western Han jin ≈ 248g), number twenty-one’. According to Hanshu: Dili Zhi (Book of Han: Treatise on
Geography), the first two characters Zhouzhi 盩厔 was a county in Youfufeng 右扶風 area (today’s Zhouzhi
county southwest of Xi’an). Therefore, Zhou Zhi gong ding can be translated as ‘the ding for Zhouzhi’. Unlike
bronze vessels from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, inscriptions on related Han dynasty ding often start with
location and palace names rather than the name of the person who commissioned the vessel.

This ding was possibly made to serve Emperor Wu of Han in one of his palaces, the Changyang Palace.
Hanshu: Dili Zhi records that ‘Emperor Zhao of Qin 秦昭王 built Changyang Palace 長楊宮 and Shexiong
Hall 射熊館 in Zhouzhi county’. Emperor Wu, one of the greatest emperors in China’s history, is well
known for his military accomplishments. He was not only the revered emperor who led the Han dynasty
through its greatest territorial expansion, but also an ‘ordinary’ nobleman, who often snuck out of the
capital, Chang’an, to enjoy hunting in Qin’s remnant palaces. This hunting hobby greatly contributed to his
legendary military merit. Hanshu: Dongfang Shuo (Book of Han: Biography of Dongfang Shuo) mentions
that Changyang Palace was one of Emperor Wu’s favorite hunting places. He even commissioned officials
to build Shanglin Yuan 上林苑, a magnificent royal hunting ground comprising Changyang Palace, other
imperial structures and hunting grounds within a natural landscape. Although heavily worn, the first
character of the inscription on the cover resembles the chang character, indicating Changyang Palace,
supporting the hypothesis that the present ding was used in the Changyang Palace in Zhouzhi.

Compare the Chang Yang Gong Ding, a closely related early Western Han ding in the collection of the Palace
Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong jingdian: Gugong qingtongqi tudian [Classics of the Forbidden City:
Bronzes of the Forbidden City], Beijing, 2010, pl. 203. A slightly earlier example, Bei Yang Ding, attributed to
the late Warring States period, is published in ‘Bei Yang Ding Ba’, Wenwu, vol.11, 1995, Beijing, pp 74-78. See
also the Chang Yi Shi Guan Ding, a group of five ding vessels in the collection of Poly Art Museum, Beijing,
illustrated in Selected Bronzes in the Collection of the Poly Art Museum, vol. I, 1999, Beijing, pp 281-290.

“ T H O S E W H O

O FFE N D E D T H E

M I G H T Y H A N E M P I R E,

S H A LL B E E LI M IN A T E D

N O M A T T E R H O W F A R

A W AY T HE Y A R E . ”

B O O K O F H A N : T H E S T O R Y O F
「明犯強漢者，雖遠必誅」
O F FI CI A L T A N G

《漢書•臣湯傳》