Detail View: National Palace English: Bronze Ding vessel with inscription of Zheng-he reign

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Bronze Ding vessel with inscription of Zheng-he reign

Zheng-he reign, Northern Song Dynasty, dated 1116

A.D.1116

A.D.1116

40 Northern Song (A.D. 960~1127)

China

Height: 23 cm; Height: 18.5 cm; Diameter (mouth): 19.1 x 19.3 cm; Diameter (bell): 10.7 cm; Weight: 1405g

Bronze

Ding (cooking vessel)

Bronzes

The National Palace Museum, Taipei

The flourishing age of bronze created by the Shang and Zhou dynasties waned when the first emperor of Qin unified China. The ritual bronzes in ancestral temples were largely replaced by lacquer wares. Only the tradition for bronze lamps, mirrors, and seals were preserved on later synthetic metal wares. Emperor Huizong of the Northern Sung (1101~1125), who was also a skilled and enthusiastic painter and calligrapher, profoundly admired antiquities. The court collected enormous amount of antique treasures and copies Shang Zhou bronzes. This vessel is a Sung imitation of a late Shang, early Zhou ding. The tiger design on the belly is of acceptable quality, but the inscription lies in the middle of the inner belly. It is peculiar to think that copiers did not know Shang inscriptions should lie in the inner wall above the back foot. Roughly ten characters can be identified from the thirty-some-character inscription. Since it began with zhengho liunian, we know that the vessel was made in the 16th year of Huizong's reign. Due to the loss of the Shang Zhou bronze casting technique, the imitated inscription is blurry and difficult to discern. While on Shang Zhou bronzes we are able to appreciate the calligraphic beauty of the inscriptions, on a piece like this we are able to appreciate the beauty of fervent antiquarianism in Huizong's court

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