LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY BC

The inscription appearing inside this vessel consists of the graph dan inserted between two human figures set back-to-back to form the character bei (north). Below is the character ge, represented by a dagger-axe with a tassel suspended from the tang. This inscription, Bei Dan Ge, appears on a fangyi illustrated by R.W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1987, pp. 428-9, no. 77. Bagley also illustrates, pp. 431-2, figs. 77.1-77.6, seven other bronze vessels bearing this inscription, all of which he characterizes as belonging to Style IV of the early Anyang period. Three of the nine Bei Dan Ge bronzes were from the large tomb WKGM1 at Wuguancun, which is attributed to the reign of Wu Ding (1324-1266 BC).
A ding decorated with a similar band of snakes and of similar proportions, but with a more everted mouth rim, from Anyang, is illustrated in A Catalogue of Shang Dynasty Bronze Inscriptions, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1995, pp. 36-37.