Shang and Zhou bronzes
Cast vessels for offerings to ancestors, covered in animal masks and inscriptions
How to recognise it
- Taotie mask: eyes and horns on a central axis
- Ground of fine 'thunder' spirals
- Ding tripods and footed goblets
- Notched flanges along the vessel's edges
- Inscriptions cast inside the vessel
Why it emerged
Shang kings ruled by their ancestors' will, and feasts for the spirits needed the finest vessels. Casting in piece-moulds made intricate ornament repeatable, and under the Zhou bronze inscriptions became an archive of royal grants.
Examples
Houmuwu dingc. 1200 BC875 kg — the heaviest bronze vessel of the ancient world
Tomb of Fu Haoc. 1200 BCUntouched tomb of a royal consort and general: 468 bronzes and 755 jades
Sanxingduic. 1200 BCBulging-eyed masks and a 2.6 m figure — a non-Shang bronze tradition
Mao Gong dingc. 800 BCThe longest bronze inscription: 497 characters of a Zhou king's charge
Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zengc. 433 BC65 bells, each sounding two pitches — China's oldest surviving tuned scaleMeanwhile elsewhere
- Megaliths Europe
- Mesopotamian art Middle East
- Ancient Egyptian art Africa
- Aegean art Europe
- Olmec art Americas
- Nok terracottas Africa
- Ancient Greek art: Archaic and Classical Europe
- Scythian animal style Eastern Europe & Russia
- Hellenistic art Europe