The Shang dynasty, also known as the Yin dynasty, was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the Book of Documents, Bamboo Annals and Records of the Grand Historian. Modern scholarship dates the dynasty between the 16th and 11th centuries BC, with more agreement surrounding the end date than beginning date.
Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based on or draws on Chinese culture, heritage, and history. Early "Stone Age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. After that period, Chinese art, like Chinese history, was typically classified by the succession of ruling dynasties of Chinese emperors, most of which lasted several hundred years. The Palace Museum in Beijing and the National Palace Museum in Taipei contains extensive collections of Chinese art.
The zun or yi, used until the Northern Song (960–1126) is a type of Chinese ritual bronze or ceramic wine vessel with a round or square vase-like form, sometimes in the shape of an animal, first appearing in the Shang dynasty. Used in religious ceremonies to hold wine, the zun has a wide lip to facilitate pouring. Vessels have been found in the shape of a dragon, an ox, a goose, and more. One notable zun is the He zun from the Western Zhou.
Ding are prehistoric and ancient Chinese cauldrons standing upon legs with a lid and two fancy facing handles. They are one of the most important shapes used in Chinese ritual bronzes. They were made in two shapes: round vessels with three legs and rectangular ones with four, the latter often called fāng dǐng "square ding (方鼎. They were used for cooking, storage, and ritual offerings to the gods or to ancestors.
The Erlitou culture was an early Bronze Age society and archaeological culture. It existed in the Yellow River valley from approximately 1900 to 1500 BC. The culture is named after Erlitou, an archaeological site in Yanshi, Henan. It was widely spread throughout Henan and Shanxi and later appeared in Shaanxi and Hubei. Most archaeologists consider Erlitou the first state-level society in China. Chinese archaeologists generally identify the Erlitou culture as the site of the Xia dynasty, but there is no firm evidence, such as writing, to substantiate such a linkage, as the earliest evidence of Chinese writing dates to the Late Shang period.
A guang or gong is a particular shape used in Chinese art for vessels, originally made as Chinese ritual bronzes in the Shang dynasty, and sometimes later in Chinese porcelain. They are a type of ewer which was used for pouring rice wine at ritual banquets, and often deposited as grave goods in high-status burial. Examples of the shape may be described as ewers, ritual wine vessels, wine pourers and similar terms, though all of these terms are also used of a number of other shapes, especially the smaller tripod jue and the larger zun.
The Taotie is an ancient Chinese mythological creature that was commonly emblazoned on bronze and other artifacts during the 1st millennium BC. Taotie are one of the "four evil creatures of the world". In Chinese classical texts such as the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", the fiend is named alongside the Hundun, Qiongqi, and Taowu.
From c. 1650 BC, elaborately decorated bronze vessels were deposited as grave goods in the tombs of royalty and nobility during the Chinese Bronze Age. Documented excavations have found over 200 pieces in a single royal tomb. They were produced for an individual or social group to use in making ritual offerings of food and drink to his or their ancestors and other deities or spirits. Such ceremonies generally took place in family temples or ceremonial halls over tombs. These ceremonies can be seen as ritual banquets in which both living and dead members of a family were supposed to participate. Details of these ritual ceremonies are preserved through early literary records. On the death of the owner of a ritual bronze, it would often be placed in his tomb, so that he could continue to pay his respects in the afterlife; other examples were cast specifically as grave goods. Indeed, many surviving examples have been excavated from graves.
A jue is a type of ancient Chinese vessel used to serve warm wine during ancestor-worship ceremonies. It takes the form of an ovoid body supported by three splayed triangular legs, with a long curved spout on one side and a counterbalancing flange on the other. Many examples have one or two loop handles on the side and two column-shaped protuberances on the top of the vessel, which were probably used to enable the vessel to be lifted using leather straps. They are often ornately decorated with taotie decorations representing mythical beasts. They are in effect a small Chinese equivalent of the ewer. The name jue is not original, but derives from the Shuowen Jiezi, a dictionary of the 2nd century AD.
A hu is a type of wine vessel that has a pear-shaped cross-section. Its body swells and flares into a narrow neck, creating S-shaped profile. While it is similar to you vessel, hu usually has a longer body and neck. The shape of hu probably derives from its ceramic prototype prior to the Shang dynasty. They usually have handles on the top or rings attached to each side of neck. Many extant hu lack lids while those excavated in such tombs as Fu Hao's indicate that this type of vessel might be originally made with lids. Although it is more often to see hu having a circular body, there also appears hu in square and flat rectangular forms, called fang hu and bian huArchived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine in Chinese. In addition, hu often came to be found in a pair or in a set together with other types of vessels. As wine had played an important part in the Shang ritual, the hu vessel might be placed in the grave of an ancestor as part of ritual in order to ensure a good relationship with ancestor's spirit.
The He zun is an ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessel of the zun shape. It dates from the era of Western Zhou, specifically the early years of the dynasty, and is famous as the oldest artifact with the written characters meaning "Middle Kingdom" or "Central State" — 中國: "China" — in a bronze inscription on the container. Today it is in the Baoji Bronzeware Museum in Shaanxi.
A dui is a type of Chinese ritual bronze vessel used in the late Zhou dynasty and the Warring States period of ancient China. It was a food container used as a ritual vessel. Most dui consist of two bowls supported on three legs.
A gu is a type of ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessel from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. It was used to drink wine or to offer ritual libations.
An elaborately decorated "ritual wine server" in the guang shape is a Chinese ritual bronze wine vessel, accession number 60.43, in the permanent Asian collection at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. It dates to about 1100 BCE in the Shang dynasty period. The piece is currently on display in the Arthur R. & Frances D. Baxter Gallery of the museum.
The Shi Qiang pan is a Chinese bronze dated to the end of the 10th century BCE. It is inscribed with a text that has been described as "the first conscious attempt in China to write history". It is regarded as one of China's national treasure, and was listed in 2002 as one of sixty-four cultural relics forbidden to be exhibited abroad. It is kept at the Baoji Bronzeware Museum; a replica is displayed in the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre Museum. The vessel is low and round, and has two handles. It is 16.2 cm (6.4 in) tall, and has a diameter of 47.3 cm (18.6 in). Its exterior is cast with a taotie design.
Chinese sculpture originated from the Shang, and has a history of more than 3,000 years. Chinese sculpture eventually influenced the sculpture of other nations such as Japan.
The Huixian Bronze Hu are a pair of bronze wine vessels that were found in the city of Huixian, Henan province, central China. Dating to the Eastern Zhou dynasty, they have been part of the British Museum's Asian Collections since 1972.
A fangyi is a type of Chinese ritual bronze container typical of the Shang and early to middle Zhou periods of Bronze Age China. It takes the shape of a square or rectangular casket with a cover that resembles a hip roof, surmounted by a knob of a similar hipped appearance. The lower edge is typically indented with a semi-circular notch.
The Luboshez guang is a Chinese ritual bronze wine vessel, dated to the 13th-12th century BC during the Shang dynasty that was auctioned off by Christie's during the annual Asia Week NY auctions of 2021 for a total of $8.6 million.
The state religion of the Shang dynasty involved trained practitioners communicating with deified beings, including deceased ancestors and supernatural gods. Means of communication with the spirits consist of written divinations on oracle bones and sacrifice of living beings. The Shang dynasty also had large-scale constructions of tombs, which reflects their belief in the afterlife, along with sacred places. Numerous Shang vessels, as well as oracle bones, have been excavated in the kingdom's capital Yin. These archaeological discoveries facilitate understandings of Shang religious beliefs and practices through a large amount of evidence. Headed by the exalted Dì, the deities formed a pantheon.
