Houmuwu ding
The heaviest surviving bronze vessel from ancient China, made for offerings to a royal mother. Its inscription gives it its name.
The taotie masks in the relief: find the eyes first, then the rest of the face.
The Houmuwu ding is a large bronze vessel from the Shang dynasty, the first Chinese dynasty known from contemporary writing. It was made during the later part of the dynasty, when the capital lay at present-day Anyang in Henan Province. The vessel was found in 1939 by farmers in Anyang during the Japanese occupation. It was hidden so that it would not fall into the wrong hands and was dug up again after the war.
The vessel is about 1.3 metres high and weighs some 830 kilograms. It is the heaviest bronze vessel to survive from ancient China. It has four legs and a rectangular body, with two handles at the top. The vessel belongs to the National Museum of China in Beijing.
Inside is an inscription of three characters that gives the vessel its name. The inscription has been read in different ways. It means roughly “to Mother Wu”. Who the mother was is disputed. A common interpretation is that she was a queen, married to a Shang king, who was honoured by her son after her death. The reading of the first character has also been debated, and the vessel has therefore also been called the Simuwu ding.
The surface is covered with relief. Its most characteristic feature is the taotie masks, stylised faces with large eyes, horns and mouths. The masks are symmetrical and can be seen as two animals in profile meeting in the middle. On the outside of the handles are images of two animals, often interpreted as tigers, with a human head between them.
The vessel was cast using a technique known as piece-mould casting. A model was made, then clay moulds in several sections were placed around a core, and the molten bronze was poured into the space between. The handles were probably cast separately. Casting a vessel of this size required vast quantities of metal and well-organised labour.
Ding vessels were used in offerings to the ancestors, in which meat was cooked or presented. They were also symbols of power and legitimacy. In Chinese tradition the ding came to symbolise state power itself, and to possess the ding meant to have the right to rule. In 1976 the tomb of Fu Hao was excavated in the same area of Anyang; she was a consort of King Wu Ding who, according to inscriptions, also led military campaigns. Hundreds of bronze objects were found there. The finds show that women in the highest ranks of the Shang elite could wield great power.
The Houmuwu ding is regarded as one of China’s most important cultural objects and may not be taken out of the country for exhibition. It is a symbol of the technical and artistic achievement of the Chinese Bronze Age and shows how advanced Shang society was.