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Lot Essay
Symbolizing royal power, fangding vessels had great significance for Shang ruling elites. The largest extant Shang bronze ritual vessel is the Si Mu Wu Fangding, measuring 133 cm. high and weighing 875 kilograms, found in 1939 in Wuguan village, Anyang city, and now in the National Museum of China. See Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji: Shang 2 (Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes: Shang), vol. 2, Beijing, 1997, p. 48, no. 47. While massive fangding vessels were made exclusively for kings and queens, fangding of regular size were reserved for high-ranking aristocrats. The powerful proportions and fine casting of the current fangding demonstrate the sophistication of bronze design and casting in the late Shang capital, Anyang.
The inscription cast on one interior wall of the current fangding reads Fu Yi (Father Yi) followed by a graph depicting a ding food vessel. The same inscription can be found a ding tripod vessel in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated by C. Deydier, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1 Annexe, Hong Kong, 2013, pp. 116-17, no. 69, as well as on a pair of jue in the Shanghai Museum illustrated in Yinzhou jinwen jicheng (Compendium of Yin and Zhou Bronze Inscriptions), Beijing, 1984, nos. 8421 and 8422. A jue with an inscription depicting the ding graph oriented above Fu Yi is in the Anyang Museum and is illustrated in Zhongyuan Wenwu, vol. 3, Henan, 1986, p. 119.
A fangding cast with similar decoration, but of larger size (24.4 cm. high) and with taller, more slender legs, is illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp. 560-3, no. 96. A fangding of comparable size (20.8 cm. high) and decoration is illustrated by R.W. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1987, pp. 472-5, no. 88, and was later sold at Christie’s New York, 25-26 March 2010, lot 1003. Other comparable fangding include the example (22.2 cm. high) sold at Christie’s New York 22 March 2012, lot 1508, and the Shao Fangding (20.7 cm. high), which featured kui dragons forming the horns of the taotie masks in the main band, and pairs of kui dragons in the narrow bands below the mouth rim, sold at Christie’s New York, Power and Prestige: Important Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes from a Distinguished European Collection, 22 March 2019, lot 1506.
The inscription cast on one interior wall of the current fangding reads Fu Yi (Father Yi) followed by a graph depicting a ding food vessel. The same inscription can be found a ding tripod vessel in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated by C. Deydier, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1 Annexe, Hong Kong, 2013, pp. 116-17, no. 69, as well as on a pair of jue in the Shanghai Museum illustrated in Yinzhou jinwen jicheng (Compendium of Yin and Zhou Bronze Inscriptions), Beijing, 1984, nos. 8421 and 8422. A jue with an inscription depicting the ding graph oriented above Fu Yi is in the Anyang Museum and is illustrated in Zhongyuan Wenwu, vol. 3, Henan, 1986, p. 119.
A fangding cast with similar decoration, but of larger size (24.4 cm. high) and with taller, more slender legs, is illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp. 560-3, no. 96. A fangding of comparable size (20.8 cm. high) and decoration is illustrated by R.W. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1987, pp. 472-5, no. 88, and was later sold at Christie’s New York, 25-26 March 2010, lot 1003. Other comparable fangding include the example (22.2 cm. high) sold at Christie’s New York 22 March 2012, lot 1508, and the Shao Fangding (20.7 cm. high), which featured kui dragons forming the horns of the taotie masks in the main band, and pairs of kui dragons in the narrow bands below the mouth rim, sold at Christie’s New York, Power and Prestige: Important Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes from a Distinguished European Collection, 22 March 2019, lot 1506.