Unknown
Chinese, late Shang dynasty

Liding Ritual Food Vessel, 11th c. BCE
bronze
8 x 6 7/8 x 7 1/8 in.

SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by the estate of Herbert N. Peters, Santa Barbara St. Mary's Retreat House and Carroll and Suzanne Barrymore
2001.35

RESEARCH PAPER

Towards the end of the Neolithic Age, copper, the first metal came into use as material for tools and weapons, and later, bronze, alloy of copper and tin were widely used by ancient peoples of Europe, Asia and Middle East and the period is called Bronze Age. In ancient China, the Neolithic Period is considered to be 6,000 to 1700 BCE. By the early 2000 BCE, craftsmen had already been creating ceramics and jade objects for centuries. Their workmanship and sophisticated designs are quite outstanding. The mastery of these materials is important for the development of production of a new material, bronze casting, as similar techniques are required: namely, making and assembling ceramic molds and working in high temperature. As the refined ceramics and jade carvings represent Neolithic Culture in China, the bronze vessels produced abundantly with their variety of shapes and sizes as well as unique surface decorations represent China’s Bronze Age which coincides with its first dynastic periods of Shang (1500 to 1050 BCE) and Western and Eastern Zhou (1050 – 221 BCE).

In our collection, we have good examples of a painted earthen jar dated 2500 to 2000 BCE and jade carvings of a bi disk and a cylindrical cong (from later period) to represent the Chinese Neolithic Culture. Therefore this bronze cauldron is a welcome addition that plays an important part in coherence to our collection of Ancient Chinese Art from the Neolithic Age through the Bronze Age.

Historical records reveal bronze casting was already highly developed by the Xia dynasty (2000 - 1600 BCE), which is the oldest monarchy in Chinese history preceding Shang dynasty, but its existence is not yet proved by the archeological findings. The many sets of bronze vessels were excavated from the tombs dated Shang Era in Northern China. Especially the greatest period in the development of Chinese bronzes was the late Shang (c. 1100 BCE) and Western Zhou (1050 to 771 BCE), producing the largest variety of shapes, sizes and decoration.

Our three-legged cauldron was produced during the late Shang period and known as liding: li means with handles and ding means round-bodied. It is a cooking vessel used in ceremonies associated with ancestor worship. The ancestors were believed to watch over the fate of the surviving family and of the state, if the family was king’s. They were consulted at the ritual ceremonies, as were the gods. Bronze vessels were used in cooking and serving food and for warming and pouring wine in sumptuous ritual banquets. The poems of the later eras describe how the ritual banquet was performed, using many different kinds of bronze vessels. It was a very important event for Shang rulers, so much so that those precious bronze vessels were buried in the tombs for the afterlife of the deceased rulers. Bronze was made into bells, weapons, mirrors and chariot fittings also. Commemorative urns were cast to mark weddings, promotions and military victories. They were often inscribed. The biggest ding that was unearthed near Anyang in Northern China is a square cauldron with four legs; it is 53" high 44" long 31" deep.

Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, sometimes with small amounts of lead, zinc, antimony, iron or silver. The Chinese cast their vessels rather than making them by hammering bronze. The casting of Shang bronzes was done in pottery section molds. (Note: it is not lost wax method) Specially prepared clay was made into the number of mold sections required by a particular shape. Patterns and inscriptions were carved or incised into the mold sections. After being thoroughly dried and fired, the mold sections were fitted together and reinforced to form a complete mold, which was fitted with a cover containing a pouring hole for the bronze to enter and one or more holes through which air bubbles would be expelled. Molten bronze was poured between the inner and outer molds. After the bronze had cooled, the mold was broken and the bronze removed and given a final finishing and polishing. Shang workmanship in the making of pottery molds was extremely fine, and set the highest standards in the ancient world for the casting of bronze pieces in pottery molds.

The sophisticated taste and religious aspiration are evident in the graceful shape and the surface design of our cauldron. With scrolls of thunder patterns (round or square spirals) occupying the ground, the most distinctive decoration is the highly stylized animal-like masks known as taotie, monster that looks a cross between a horned lion and griffin. The protruding eyes and horns give the vessel a grotesque appearance. The exact meaning of taotie is lost, but the accompanying dragon motif eventually became the most important symbol of authority in later Chinese society. (You can see similar upside down dragons in the nearby Buddhist stele of Tang Dynasty in our collection.) Some scholars suggest that the taotie may have been used to warn off evil as part of the rituals performed. You may compare it to Medusa in Greek bowls. Others say that perhaps it was an important emblem of the Shang kings. Other frequent motifs are cicada, snake, deer and elephant.

There are two pictographs inscribed inside this vessel. The writings on bronzes are closely related to the markings on the oracle bones used in the rituals by the Shang kings. They are the earliest writings in China and the direct ancestor of the present Chinese characters. Of the two characters on this vessel, the second one is recognized to mean "document or book", while the first one remains undeciphered. "Oracle bones" is the general term used for the ox and deer scapulae and tortoise carapaces and plastrons that were used to communicate with Heaven. To specific questions incised onto the bones ("Will it rain?" "Will the hunt be good?" and so on), Heaven responded in the form of cracks that appeared on the surface of the bone after the application of a heated point to drilled holes. These cracks were auguries, and professional scribes in charge of this vital communication interpreted their patterns and then recorded the interpretation on the bone surface.

Selected Bibliography
Ma, Chengyuan (trans. By June Mei), Ritual Bronzes – Epitome of Ancient Chinese Civilization, China 5000 Years , Guggenheim Museum Publications, New York, 1998
So, Jenny, Innovation in Ancient Chinese Metalwork, China 5000 Years, same as above
Rawson, Jessica, The Ritual Bronze Vessels of the Shang and the Zhou, Mysteries of Ancient China, New Discoveries From the Early Dynasties, George Brazillers, Inc, New York, 1996

SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS

The rituals of the Shang dynasty required regular sacrificial offerings of food to appease the power “on High,” bring rain, and maintain the cosmic as well as political order. Bronze vessels, like these, were found in tombs of clan rulers indicative of their societal position and control of natural resources. Later, during the time of Confucius (551–478 BCE), this system of rules and ritual observances came to be known under the name of "li" [礼; 禮], a concept centering on human relationships, including those with one’s ancestors. The liding vessel has a pair of “eyes” on either side and a “nose” fl anked by "kui", or dragons. It was believed that these large-eyed mask-like creatures, later known as "taotie" [饕餮], were warnings to the living against overindulgence in food or other excesses.

- Fire Metal Monument: Bronze, 2021

These vessels were created at the beginning of China’s historical era—also known as the Great Bronze Age. Produced for the elite, they were used in rituals for serving food and wine to ancestors, and to accompany the deceased into the afterlife. Possession of these vessels implied wealth, power, and privilege to communicate with the supreme deity in heaven. While we do not know the meaning of the intricate patterns that decorate the exterior of these vessels, the combined zoomorphic and abstract shapes display mask and animal designs that were significant to the users. The inscriptions on the vessels are mostly clan names written in a script that evolved from earlier pictograms and would continue to transform into the modern Chinese characters we know today.

- Ridley-Tree Gallery, 2016