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拍品专文
The inscription includes a clan sign, fu ('quiver') - in this case containing two arrows - above a portion of the character fu ('father'). A scar through the middle of the inscription obscures the remaining graph, probably a cyclical character which suggests the inscription might be deciphered, 'clan sign, Father Yi(?)'. A fangding virtually identical to the Duke example unearthed in the area of Anyang in 1950 is illustrated in Kaogu, 1964:11, p. 592, pl. 12:5.
As with the other three bronze vessels from the Duke Collection in this sale, lots 144, 145 and 148, this fangding was examined by Chen Mengjia while he was in the United States from 1944 to 1947. It was also included in his comprehensive survey of Chinese ritual bronzes in American collections later published in 1962 by The Academia Sinica, Beijing, under the title, Mei diguo zhuyi jielue di woguo Yin Zhou tongqi tulu, as no. A70.
According to R. Bagley, "The fang ding, which appears to be the oldest of the rectangular vessel shapes, originated before the Anyang period." See Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1987, p. 474. Decoration on the earliest fangding appears to be specifically devised for this rectangular shape and these geometric patterns continued in use for as long as this vessel shape was made. Other fangding borrowed decoration from rounded ding, such as the broad taotie mask. The present lot is an example of the former style of decoration.
A number of fangding of nearly identical pattern and size (ranging from 21.3 to 22.5 cm. high) are in numerous museums in Asia. All are dated to the late Shang period and have the same band of confronted pairs of birds with long crests, above a central rectangular field of leiwen-filled T-scroll bordered by rounded nipples. See Chen Peifen, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Shanghai Musuem, London, 1995, p. 50, no. 23, and Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, 1998, pp. 570-1, no. 98. Three others, including one in the Archaeological Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), are published in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - Shang, vol. 2, Beijing, 1997, pp. 45, 49-50, nos. 44, 48 and 49. A fangding with a slight variation on this pattern, showing just two long-tailed in the upper register, also dated to the late Shang period, was included in the exhibition, Treasures from the Shanghai Museum, Queensland Art Gallery, 1990, p. 54. no. 10, where it is noted that square ding usually came in pairs. It is possible that the Duke fangding is actually the mate to one of the above-mentioned examples.
Technical examination report available upon request.
As with the other three bronze vessels from the Duke Collection in this sale, lots 144, 145 and 148, this fangding was examined by Chen Mengjia while he was in the United States from 1944 to 1947. It was also included in his comprehensive survey of Chinese ritual bronzes in American collections later published in 1962 by The Academia Sinica, Beijing, under the title, Mei diguo zhuyi jielue di woguo Yin Zhou tongqi tulu, as no. A70.
According to R. Bagley, "The fang ding, which appears to be the oldest of the rectangular vessel shapes, originated before the Anyang period." See Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1987, p. 474. Decoration on the earliest fangding appears to be specifically devised for this rectangular shape and these geometric patterns continued in use for as long as this vessel shape was made. Other fangding borrowed decoration from rounded ding, such as the broad taotie mask. The present lot is an example of the former style of decoration.
A number of fangding of nearly identical pattern and size (ranging from 21.3 to 22.5 cm. high) are in numerous museums in Asia. All are dated to the late Shang period and have the same band of confronted pairs of birds with long crests, above a central rectangular field of leiwen-filled T-scroll bordered by rounded nipples. See Chen Peifen, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Shanghai Musuem, London, 1995, p. 50, no. 23, and Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, 1998, pp. 570-1, no. 98. Three others, including one in the Archaeological Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), are published in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - Shang, vol. 2, Beijing, 1997, pp. 45, 49-50, nos. 44, 48 and 49. A fangding with a slight variation on this pattern, showing just two long-tailed in the upper register, also dated to the late Shang period, was included in the exhibition, Treasures from the Shanghai Museum, Queensland Art Gallery, 1990, p. 54. no. 10, where it is noted that square ding usually came in pairs. It is possible that the Duke fangding is actually the mate to one of the above-mentioned examples.
Technical examination report available upon request.