Ritual food vessel (fangding)

A purely metallic shape, the square four-legged ding was thought until quite recently to be an innovation of the late Shang but excavations conducted at the middle Shang site of Zhengzhou in 1974 yielded several such vessels, including two of imposing dimensions.

This vessel, illustrates a transitional stage when casters were still looking for fully satisfactory proportions. The columnar legs are slightly too tall for the shallow, uncompromisingly rectangular box, and the overhanging, angular mouth rim with its two bulky loop handles is treated almost as a separate unit. The vertical sides of the container are divided into eight panels by thick flanges with I and T-shaped scores. The overall decor consists of a neck band and a main body zone. Each panel of the neck band contains a couple of beaked dragons in flat relief against a meander background. The same technique is applied to the main zone, but here the motifs are large, spurred and shielded dragons confronted two by two and forming taotie masks. The front part of each leg is incised with one complete and two partial hanging blades decorated with highly stylized animal shapes. These blades are surmounted by a band of barbed C-shaped spirals.

The first two characters of the inscription cast inside the vessel represent a man straddling a frog and is generally read (Sons and Grandsons) but probably stands here for a clan name. The third and fourth seem to refer to a female ancestor.