Taotie Bronze Square Ding with Nipple Pattern

Taotie Nipple-patterned Copper Square Ding, a bronze ritual vessel, an early Shang Dynasty cultural relic, is 83 cm tall, 51.5×51.2 cm in diameter, and weighs 52.9 kg. It was unearthed from a bronze cellar pit in Nanshuncheng Street, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province in 1996.

In February 1996, Zhengzhou Zhongshi Real Estate Development Company discovered a copper cellar pit during the construction of the Minzu Food Street on the west side of the southern section of Nanshuncheng Street, Zhengzhou City. After rescue excavation by archaeological staff, a group of 12 bronze artifacts were unearthed, including 4 square tripods. The 4 square tripods have the same shape and similar patterns, and the sizes decrease in sequence. The Taotie Nipple-patterned Copper Square Ding is one of them.

The mouth of the Taotie copper square tripod with nipple pattern is nearly square, with a square lip, a flat folded rim that is inclined inward, and a narrow rim. Two ring ears are installed on the rim, and the outer walls of the two ears are grooved. The belly of the tripod is square bucket-shaped, with the lower abdomen slightly retracted inward and the bottom of the belly nearly flat. There are four cylindrical hollow feet at the four corners, which are thick on the top and thin on the bottom. The tripod feet are hollow and have a perfect circular cross-section. They are connected to the inner wall of the bottom of the vessel. They are slightly thinner near the bottom of the feet and then become thicker. The inner wall of the belly is very flat. There is a "cross"-shaped reinforcement rib in the middle of the bottom of the tripod, which forms a "field" shape with the reinforcement ribs on the four sides, making the connection between the bottom of the tripod and the belly wall more secure. A 15 cm long and 1.5 cm wide reinforcement rib is cast in the middle of each of the four outer frames of the bottom of the tripod, extending from the bottom of the tripod to the four frames of the inner wall and the bottom of the belly. There are also reinforcement ribs made of gaskets under the tripod ears, which make the connection between the rim and the ears and the belly wall more secure. There are relatively obvious mold seam marks left at the four corners of the rim, the inner wall, the bottom and the junction of the feet and the belly. The belly of the tripod is decorated with groups of Taotie patterns, forming eight Taotie faces. Each belly also has three groups of band-shaped nipple patterns, nipple patterns near the four corners on both sides, arranged vertically, three rows of circular nipple patterns horizontally, and four rows of nipple patterns near the bottom. The upper surface of the tripod feet is decorated with Taotie patterns.

Figure 1: Rubbing of the decoration of the bronze square tripod with Taotie nipple patterns

Figure 2: The "cross"-shaped reinforcement rib on the bottom of the bronze square tripod with Taotie nipple patterns

Figure 3: The feet of the bronze square tripod with Taotie nipple patterns

The bottom and belly of the bronze square tripod with Taotie nipple patterns have a layer of soot [1], indicating that this vessel should have a practical function, and may have been used as a cooking vessel. The vessel is heavy in shape and huge in size, and has a royal aura. Few large-scale bronze vessels have been discovered in the early Shang Dynasty, which may be related to the fact that no royal tombs of the early Shang Dynasty have been discovered. The Taotie Bronze Square Ding with Nipple Pattern was unearthed from a bronze storage pit next to the Shang City in Zhengzhou. Most of the objects unearthed along with it were also precious bronze artifacts. This has deepened our understanding of early Shang bronze artifacts, provided some clues for understanding the royal artifacts, and is of great significance for exploring the bronze casting technology and even the ritual system of the Shang Dynasty.