Page 66 - March 17, 2020 Impotant Chinese Art, Sotheby's, New York

Fig. 1a Ritual vessel in the shape of a rhinoceros, Shang dynasty
A rubbing of the current lot’s inscription illustrated in Liu Tizhi, Xiaojiaojingge jinwen taben [Rubbings of archaic bronze inscriptions in the
Xiaojiaojingge], vol. 8, 1935, p. 40.
本拍品銘文拓片著錄於劉體智，《小校經閣金文拓本》，卷8，1935年，頁40
128 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N10644
Fig. 1b Rubbing of the inscription of a ritual vessel
(approx. 1600–1050 BCE). China; probably Henan province. in the shape of a rhinoceros, Shang dynasty (approx.
Bronze. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery 1600–1050 BCE). China; probably Henan province.
Brundage Collection, B60B1+. Photograph © Asian Art Museum Bronze. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The
of San Francisco. Avery Brundage Collection, B60B1+. Photograph
圖一a 商 小臣艅犀尊 舊金山亞洲藝術博物館 艾弗里•布倫戴 © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
奇收藏 B60B1+ 圖片 © 舊金山亞洲藝術博物館 圖一b 商 小臣艅犀尊銘文拓片 舊金山亞洲藝術博物
館 艾弗里•布倫戴奇收藏 B60B1+ 圖片 © 舊金山
亞洲藝術博物館
The 34-character legend on the present gui follows a 本簋銘文共 34 字，屬同類銘之典型格式，
characteristic pattern. It begins with a cyclical date and ends 以干支起首，月份作結，內容包括以貝朋
with a calendar date; it mentions a bestowal of cowries, 作為賞賜（貝朋為商代主要貨幣，受賞人
the main form of currency at the time, which often is
given as reason for the casting of a bronze, although some 多以貝資鑄器，除此外亦見部分記錄賞賜
inscriptions list gifts of jade or horses instead; there is a place 玉器或馬匹之例）；地名「上 」，根據韋
name, Shang X, which Wei has identified as a region roughly 氏研究，其應位於今河南洛陽以北的濟源
corresponding to modern Jiyuan county north of Luoyang 附近；命令下達及賞賜執行者「 」，
in Henan; it names a donor, Hua, who would have been a 應為當時的貴族或高級官員，奉王命行賞；
royal officer who made the gift on behalf of the king; it gives 獲賞者「小子□」，小子其名頗為難辨，故
the beneficiary of the gift, Xiaozi X, Xiaozi denoting some
official function, while the identifying character thereafter is 先以「□」代之；作器祭者「父丁」，父丁
considered illegible; as well as an ancestor, Father Ding, for 或為小子□之父或父輩；以及對於商王朝
whom the vessel was cast, who might have been the direct 征伐夷方這一重大軍事事件的記錄；全篇
father of the beneficiary or another relative of his father’s 最後以一個族徽結束，表明了小子□之隸
generation; further, it records the historical occasion, when 屬。
this happened, the campaign against the Renfang; and it
ends with a clan sign.
本簋銘文中的夷方實際寫為「尸方」，其中
The character fang in Renfang is a general term for foreign, 之「方」字，外族之統稱，多表敵對關係。
usually hostile tribes. The first character defining the name
of the tribe is more complicated to unravel. The character 「尸」字據學者考證應為「夷」之古字，故
on our bronze is believed to be 尸, a character today 「尸方」即為「夷方」。而部分殷墟甲骨文
pronounced shi, which in early texts, however, was used 中「尸」字時又頗近「人」字，故此學術
instead of 夷, yi, and in oracle bone inscriptions can look very 界亦有稱之為「人方」者。
similar to 人, ren. Thus, the tribe is variously referred to as
Yifang or Renfang. 通過梳理研究大量的相關資料，今可大體
Through the various records available, it has been possible 還原此次發生在商末的重要伐夷戰役。此
to reconstruct the campaign to have been a nine-month long 役應由商代最後一代帝王帝辛率軍親征，
expedition undertaken by Di Xin, who himself embarked on
歷時共九個月，與夷方交戰之地據學者考
the lengthy journey to Renfang territory, which is considered
to have been a region covering parts of modern Shandong, 證可能位於今山東、安徽及江蘇部份地區。
Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. Wei has been able to compile 韋氏通過研究整理二十件相關甲骨及青銅
a kind of time-line of the nine months the expedition lasted, 器，排譜出此役之經過始於帝辛十四祀，至
by reconstructing its progress through twenty inscriptions on 十五祀結束。本簋銘文按時間可排至十四祀
oracle bones and bronzes. She has established the campaign 末，如按前述帝辛提定在位時間為準，則可
to have begun in the 14th ritual cycle (roughly equivalent to a
斷為約公元前 1072 年（另可參考
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