LATE SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

The inscription consists of the graph che followed by the characters Fu Xin (Father Xin). A variation of the graph che can be seen incorporated into an inscription cast on a late Shang gu, formerly in the collection of R.D. Minett, which was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 11 March 1965, lot 92. Another variation of this graph can be seen on an early/middle Western Zhou gui illustrated by J. Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington, DC, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1990, vol. IIB, pp. 370-1, no. 40, where the graph is combined with another graph to form the character lu, which in ancient Chinese refers to going on a military campaign.

Compare the very similar fangding of slightly larger size (24.4 cm. high) illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp. 560-3, no. 96. See, also, the fangding of slightly smaller size (20.8 cm. high) and with slightly broader proportions, but with similar cast designs on the sides, illustrated by R.W. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington DC, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1987, pp. 472-5, no. 88, and later sold in these rooms, 25 March 2010, lot 1003.