Page 67 - March 17, 2020 Impotant Chinese Art, Sotheby's, New York

The style of our gui is characteristic of the metropolitan 本簋風格屬商代晚期安陽典型。此風格後
bronze making tradition of Anyang in Henan in the late phase 延續至西周。韋氏（2015 年，頁 046，圖
of the Shang period, a style that continued into the Western 5）曾將本器與其他三件同時期的青銅簋
Zhou. Wei (2015, p. 046, fig. 5) compares the present piece, 作以比較：其一出土自安陽殷墟劉家莊北
to three other gui that can be attributed to Di Xin’s reign: one
excavated from a tomb at Liujiazhuang Locus North, Yinxu, 地，形制與本簋非常相近，唯無垂珥；另
Anyang, which is very similar overall, but lacks the pendant 外兩件紋飾與本器相異，但均作垂珥：其
flanges of the handles; and two with different decoration but 一即為前述賽克勒藏簋，其二同出自劉家
showing these flanges, which are otherwise characteristic of 莊墓。另可參考一簋例，器型紋飾與本品
the early Western Zhou period: the Sackler gui mentioned 相近，但作鉤形垂珥，亦出自賽克勒收
above, and a second gui from the same Liujiazhuang tomb.
A similarly shaped and decorated gui, but with indented 藏，圖載於傑西卡•羅森，《Western Zhou
flanges, also from the Sackler collection, is illustrated in Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler
Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur Collections》，華盛頓，1990 年，編號 42，
M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D.C., 1990, no. 42, where 羅森斷代商末或西周初，並與陝西及河南
it is attributed to the late Shang or early Western Zhou and 出土的三件西周初例作以比較，圖 42.1-
compared to three related excavated pieces of the early
Western Zhou from Shaanxi and Henan, figs. 42.1-3. Gui were 3。 簋，古之禮器，用以盛載食物之用，
ritual vessels for offerings of grain, whose wide open shape 其形闊口深腹，宜於作較長銘文。
made them ideally suited for long inscriptions.
帝辛，商代最後一位君王，後世多稱其為
Di Xin, the last Shang ruler, who lost the battle of Muye
against the Zhou and with it the rulership of his dynasty, 紂王，牧野之战敗於周，致商代覆亡。帝
is in historical records treated overwhelmingly negatively. 辛其人，在位期間雖有一些明治之舉，如
Although he is granted with having initiated fairly advanced 重視經濟及社會改革等，但大多史書記載
economic and social policies, he is generally depicted as 其暴虐奢侈，貪酒好色，學者吉德煒更曾
aggressive, cruel, extravagant, given to drinking and women,
and is described by Keightley (Loewe & Shaughnessy 以「墮落」一詞形容帝辛（魯惟一及夏含
Fig. 2a Bronze you, Shang Dynasty. © Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum Fig. 2b A rubbing of the inscription of the bronze You, Shang Dynasty, 夷，1999 年，頁 233）。據商末甲骨文記
in Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum, illustrated in Luo Zhenyu, Sandai jijin 1999, p. 233) as ‘depraved’. Yet he is also characterized
圖二a 商 小子 卣 © 白鶴美術館 wencun [Surviving writings from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties], as courageous, confident, strong and an excellent hunter. 載，狩獵為商帝王的重要官方活動。帝辛
vol. 8, 1937, p. 33. Imperial hunts of tiger, rhinoceros and deer formed an 據傳驍勇善戰，力大過人，尤擅獵。北京
important part of a Shang king’s official activities and are
圖二b 小子 卣銘文拓片著錄於羅振玉，《三代吉金文存》， recorded on animal bones of Period V. An extraordinary 國家博物館收藏一件作冊般黿，背部插四
卷8，1937年，頁33 箭簇，極為少見（見韋心瀅，頁 044，圖
bronze figure of a turtle with four arrowheads in its carapace
is preserved in the National Museum of China, Beijing, 1.2）。據其銘文可知所記應為商王帝辛獵
which commemorates Di Xin’s feat of hitting a soft-shell 黿於洹。武王征商的這段歷史亦以銘文的
turtle with his arrows and is inscribed to the effect (see Wei 形式記載於周初的一件青銅簋上，名為利
Xinying, p. 044, fig. 1.2). The successful battle of Muye was
year) of Di Xin’s reign, and to have ended in the 15th, with the 吉德煒於魯惟一及夏含夷，1999 年，頁 簋，現藏於北京國家博物館，見彭卿雲編，
date of the present vessel falling at the end of cycle 14 which, 248，注 26）。高古青銅器中能夠斷代至如 commemorated by the Zhou in an inscription on an early 前述出處，編號 0363。
if the dates assumed for king Di Xin’s reign are correct, would 此準確者，實為極罕。 Western Zhou bronze gui, also in the National Museum of
China, see Peng Qingyun, op.cit., no. 0363.
be equivalent to c. 1072 BC (see also Keightley in Loewe & 本簋銘文至少於 1935 年已被學術界所關注
Shaughnessy, 1999, p. 248, note 26). It is extremely rare that 據貝格利（1987 年，頁 525-530）論述， The inscription on this Xiaozi X gui has been known and 並研究，其拓本更是被許多重要的青銅器
an archaic ritual bronze vessel can be dated so precisely. studied since 1935, but the vessel itself had not been
包含歷史事件的青銅器銘大多僅為大事記 published until very recently, except in the 1970 Hauswedell 書籍所收錄。然而此器本身在 1970 年見於
While according to Bagley (1987, pp. 525-530), such historic Hauswedell 拍賣之後， 直至近時才再次現
events mentioned on bronzes are often given only as markers 時，不一定與製器或其物主有直接的關聯。 auction catalogue. 身。今次出現望可為相關學術研究提供最
of time and are not necessarily related to the manufacture 而本簋銘文提及商王賞賜貝朋正是作為征
of the bronze or its owner, in the case of this gui, the gift of 伐夷方的獎賞，銘文中的小子□也直接參 Literature 為直觀的一手資料，從而有助於解決一些
cowries by the king appears to have been a direct reward 與了此次戰事，本器亦是正因此役而鑄。 Robert W. Bagley (Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. 此前關於商末征伐夷方戰爭的待解問題。
for services rendered during the Renfang campaign, that is, 據韋氏排譜記，此一戰商王朝軍隊兵分兩 Sackler Collections, Washington, D.C., 1987.
the person mentioned on the bronze, Xiaozi X, was directly 路，由白鶴美術館藏卣銘文中記載的小子 參考書籍
involved in the events and the casting of our vessel was a David N. Keightley, Sources of Shang History. The Oracle- 羅伯特•貝格利，《Shang Ritual Bronzes in the
direct consequence of that historic episode. Wei infers that 率軍前部偵查，以輔王師，又以本簋銘 Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China, Berkeley and Los Arthur M. Sackler Collections》，華盛頓， 1987
during the campaign, the Shang army was split into two 文中的小子□為統領，兵發一路，最終會 Angeles, 1978. 年
branches, which were led, respectively, by Xiaozi X, who is 師，合擊夷方。 David N. Keightley, ed., The Origins of Chinese Civilization, 吉德煒，《商代史料――中國青銅器時代的
named on the present gui, and Xiaozi Y, of the Hakutsuru you, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1983.
as commanders. 貝格利在討論一件賽克勒收藏的公元前 Michael Loewe & Edward L . Shaughnessy, eds, The 甲骨文》，伯克利及洛杉磯，1978 年
吉德煒編，《中國文明的起源》，伯克利及洛
In connection with another 11th-century BC inscribed bronze 十一世紀青銅簋時（貝格利，1987 年，編 Cambridge History of Ancient China. From the Origins of 杉磯，1983 年
gui in the Sackler collection (Bagley 1987, no. 103) Bagley 號 103），曾引用一組以銘文可確切斷代至 Civilisation to 221 B.C., Cambridge, 1999. 魯惟一及夏含夷編，《劍橋中國上古史：從文
reproduces a list, first compiled by Chen Mengjia, of ten 商的十件青銅器及四件甲骨（最初由陳夢 Wei Xinying, ‘War against Yifang in the 15th Year of Dixin’s
bronze vessels and four bones of animals killed in royal Reign Recorded on Late Shang Bronzes in Overseas 明的起源到公元前 221 年》，劍橋，1999 年
hunts, bearing inscriptions that can securely be attributed to 家整理）。此組器物中除了已提到的與征 Collections’, Journal of National Museum of China, vol. 140, 韋心瀅，〈從流散海外殷末青銅器見帝辛十五
the Shang, since they are naming a Shang sacrificial cycle. 伐夷方有關之器外，不見它者在銘文中對 2015, no.3, pp. 043-053. 祀征夷方史事〉，《中國國家博物館館刊》，期
Besides those already mentioned in connection with the 某個重要歷史事件有直接記載。 140，2015 年，期 3，頁 043 至 053
Renfang campaign, no other bronze he lists bears a direct
reference to a historic event.

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