Page 125 - Sotheby's NYC September 20 2022 Forging An Empire Bronzes

F R O M T HE W U D A C HE NG

C I R C L E O F B R O N ZE

C O N N OI S S E U R S

R E GI N A K R A H L

鑄冶商輝•金石緣誼

康蕊君

his archaic bronze cauldron of square (fang) ding shape is remarkable for the rendering
of its taotie design, which is composed of broad scrolling bands arranged in almost
Tabstract mask formations around slightly raised oval eyes, both in the center and around
the corners of the vessel. On account of this taotie style, it can be attributed to the late Shang period,
although the basic vessel form and decoration continued into the Western Zhou. The present piece is
extremely rare for showing prominent flanges at the four corners.

A fang ding with very similar decoration but lacking the flanges, the Geng Shi Fang Ding, was recovered
from Xiaodun in Yinxu, capital city of the Shang at Anyang from the early 14th to the mid-11th century
BC, and is illustrated in Yinxu qingtong qi / Bronze Vessels from Yin Xu, Beijing, 1985, pl. 232 and fig. 85:
1 (fig. 1). It is attributed to the fourth period of the site, corresponding to the reign of the last two Shang
kings. Another very similar fang ding (fig. 2), also without corner flanges, in The Saint Louis Art Museum
is extensively described and discussed in Steven D. Owyoung, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in The Saint Louis
Art Museum, St. Louis, 1997, no. 16; and a third closely related vessel lacking the flanges, in the collection
of Tadashi Sengoku, was exhibited at the Osaka Art Club in 2004 and is published in the accompanying
catalogue by Junko Namba, Chūgoku ōchō no sui [Essence of Chinese dynasties], Himeji, 2004, no. 27.

本青銅方鼎饕餮紋飾細緻精美，橢圓形雙目微突， 《Ancient Chinese Bronzes》當中曾作詳細論述，聖
造型風格抽象，延貫四周。究其饕餮紋風格可斷代 路易斯，1997年，編號16；另比一例，亦無扉棱，
商末，而整體器型及裝飾則延見於西周時期。本例 千石唯司收藏，2004年展於大阪美術倶楽部，並載
四邊扉棱，風格突出，極為罕見。 於難波純子著展覽圖錄，《中國王朝の粋》，姫
路， 2004年，編號27。
參考一相類方鼎例，與本品紋飾極為相近，唯欠扉
棱，斷代公元前14世紀初至11世紀中葉，於商都安 學者Owyoung將聖路易斯美術館收藏之方鼎斷代商
陽殷墟小屯村出土，圖載於《殷墟青銅器》，北 末，即公元前 11 世紀，並解釋該鼎饕餮紋設計以
京，1985年，圖版232，圖85:1（圖一），屬殷墟文 二里崗文化雛本為模，風格則取自商代安陽時期（
化第四期，即商末最後兩任君主帝乙﹑帝辛時期。 出處同上，頁77）：「此器紋飾較爲簡單，異於安
再見一方鼎例（圖二），四邊無扉棱，現存於美 陽時期其他青銅器雷紋地、多紋飾及結構繁雜之
國聖路易斯美術館，學者Steven D. Owyoung於著作 特點，相比羅樾二號風格（Loehr Style II），本器
紋飾更爲緊凑小巧。 此類紋飾可追溯至公元前 15

122 POWER / CONQUEST: THE FORGING OF EMPIRES