Page 35 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

Fangding 方鼎 is the “Si Mu Wu fangding” 司母戊方鼎, dating from the reign of the
Shang King Wen Ding 商王文丁 (circa 1112 – 1102 B.C.). It has a height
of 133 cm and weighs 875 kg and was cast as a memorial to King Wen
Ding’s mother. The most spectacular fangding 方鼎 in design is the
“He Da fangding” 禾大方鼎 found in 1959 at Ningxiang 寧鄉, Hunan
湖南 province. This very unique vessel, from the late Shang 商 dynasty,
and of quite medium size, being 38.5 cm high and 29.8 cm long, is
decorated on each of its four sides with a large human mask, the rarest
motif in the corpus of Shang 商 bronze designs.

This important and quite common cooking vessel is, as its name
indicates, a ‘square’ 方 or, more precisely, a rectangular form of the
ding 鼎. This rectangular vessel with two vertical handles fixed on the
rim is supported by four legs, usually cylindrical, but, in some rare
cases, blade-shaped.

Known in pottery as early as the Erlitou 二里頭 period (circa 19 –
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17 /16 centuries B.C.), the fangding 方鼎 appears cast in bronze for the
first time at the beginning of the Shang 商 dynasty during the Erligang
二里崗 period (circa 17 /16 – 14 centuries B.C.). Its casting is already
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extremely sophisticated with thin walls and hollow cylindrical legs and
hollow vertical handles. Sometimes the fangding 方鼎 of early periods
were of an extremely large size, like the two fangding 方鼎 excavated
in 1974 in Zhengzhou 州市 city, Henan 河南 province, one of which is 1
meter high, 61 cm wide and 62.5 cm long and weighs 86.4 kg, while the The shape of the fangding 方鼎 undergoes no major changes during
second is 87 cm high, 61 cm wide and weighs 62.25 kg. the Western Zhou 西周 dynasty (circa 12 /11 centuries – 770 B.C.),
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but sometimes flanges appear on the vessel’s body and legs; at other
During the Yinxu 殷墟 period (circa 14 – 12 /11 centuries B.C.) times the legs are thinner and higher. The major changes are in the
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small morphological changes appear in the fangding 方鼎; its legs and vessel’s decoration which follows the typical motifs used in this later
handles are no longer hollow, but are now full-bodied. The vessel is period.
more heavily cast with thicker walls and more powerful legs. Sometimes
fangding方鼎 may be of a huge size. The largest Shang 商 fangding 方 Fangding 方鼎 disappear from the repertoire of ritual bronze shapes
鼎 known, excavated from one of the sites at modern-day Anyang 安陽 during the Western Zhou 西周 dynasty.

The author showing to President Jacques Chirac an exceptional bronze vessel fangding.

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