Houmuwu ding


The Houmuwu ding, formerly called Simuwu ding, is a rectangular bronze ding of the ancient Chinese Shang dynasty. It is the largest piece of bronzeware to survive from anywhere in the ancient world. It was unearthed in Wuguan Village, Anyang, Henan in 1939.

Owner

The ding is named for the inscription in bronze ware script on the interior wall, which reads "Queen Mother Wu". This is the temple name of Fu Jing, a queen of Wu Ding. The ding was made after her death, presumably by her son, Zu Geng of Shang. Whilst the ding itself was unearthed in 1939, Fu Jing's tomb was not located until 1959, and was found to have been robbed out.

Description

The ding is of the rectangular type, with four legs. It is high, wide, deep, and weighs. Compared to earlier ding, such as the Duling rectangular ding, it is wider and its walls are thicker, making it much more massive. Each side has a blank space in the middle, surrounded by a band of decoration featuring taotie and kuilong. There are two handles, each decorated on the exterior with two tigers facing each other, their jaws closing around a human head in between them, an image which is also found on Fu Hao battle axes.

Inscription debate

The inscription was originally read as sīmǔwù, but since the 1970s scholars have reached the consensus that the first character should be read as hou, meaning queen, which is the mirror-image of si in oracle bone script. The National Museum of China has officially corrected its name. This reading of the inscription meant that the owner of the ding was supposed to have been a wife of Wu Yi of Shang, and the dedicator her son, Wen Ding. However, understanding the first character as hou makes it the temple name of Fu Jing, who lived earlier.