Rubbings from the Inscribed Bronze Wine Vessel �Quan Bo� Jia

Shang dynasty (ca. 1600�ca. 1100 b.c.e.), undated

Hanging scroll, ink rubbed on paper; 132.8 x 53.1 cm; height of rubbing of vessel: approx. 38.0 x 27.0 cm; height of rubbing of inscription: approx. 9.0 x 3.0 cm

Date of rubbing not given; Qing dynasty (1644�1911), late 19th�early 20th century

Inventory number: Biaozhou 512

Over the course of many decades, the National Library of China has assembled a collection of more than 3,000 rubbings taken from inscribed bronze vessels and instruments.� Some 2,000 of these rubbings are from vessels and instruments of the Shang, Zhou, and Warring States periods.� A significant proportion are so-called quanxing ta (full-figured rubbings) of bronze vessels.� Great skill is required for making these kinds of rubbings in which proper gradations of dark and light ink bring out the vessel's three-dimensional aspects.

This full-figured rubbing was taken from a late Shang bronze vessel known from its inscription as the "Quan Bo" jia, a tripod type of drinking vessel that also functioned as a ritual vessel used for storing and carrying wine.� This type of vessel, produced between the late Shang and early Zhou periods, was consciously designed in a mannered way.� A single- or two-character inscription�probably the name of an ancestor or a clan�on the inner surface of jia is typical of Shang ritual bronzes. Jin wen (bronze inscriptions) are crucial to dating a given object, determining the identity of its commissioner, and establishing its function.