LATE SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

The inscription cast on the interior of the vessel, Fu Ding, can be translated as 'Father Ding.' This is an abbreviated dedicatory inscription that means 'dedicate this vessel to Father Ding.'

Liding vessels decorated with a single frieze of large taotie first appeared at the beginning of the late Shang dynasty, circa late 13th century BC, and continued to be popular throughout the late Shang period. The robust shape and vigorous high-relief decoration of this liding represent the artistic apogee of bronze casting in the late Shang dynasty and are very similar to that of liding found in the late Shang capital Yinxu at modern day Anyang city, Henan province, such as the three illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji (Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes), vol. 2: Shang 2, Beijing, 1997, nos. 11, 16, and 19. See, also, similar lobed liding decorated with taotie masks beneath a frieze of cicadas is illustrated by R.W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington, DC,1987, pp. 484-85, no. 92.