558 ANN-UAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 31 



mentioned, of which we have now several hundred fragments," has 

 never been excelled in design. And from the bits of shell, ivory, and 

 semiprecious stone evidently once inlaid on wooden objects which 

 have disappeared, as well as from a few examples of bronze and 

 bone where the turquoise still remains, we know that the artists 

 of the Shang period were no less skilled in this type of decorative 

 work. On a plain pottery bowl we find a quality of line hardly 

 later surpassed. So we do also on a bronze vessel, almost certainly 

 of the Shang Dynasty, now in the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston. 

 This, a beautiful wine pail or yin, found 30 years ago near I-chou, 

 the ancient capital of Yen, has an excellence both of design and 

 of material (the latter evidenced by its patination) which is not 

 often exceeded. Last year (1930), while engaged in making rub- 

 bings of nearly all the inscribed early bronze vessels in America, I 

 identified this specimen, which was valued only for its intrinsic 

 beauty and not for its historical importance. This vessel and like- 

 wise the inscribed bronze halberds found near the Lai Shui "^ suggest 

 that the Shang culture extended as far north as I-chou, not far from 

 Peiping. 



Now in contrast note the crude design of the most important 

 bronze of the Chou Dynasty which followed the Shang, that known 

 as the Mao Kung Ting. Its inscription is so significant that had 

 Confucius known of it, declares the scholar Wang Kuo-wei, he 

 would have included it in that compilation of official records known 

 as the Shu Ching, or " Book of History." Surely the recording 

 of such an important inscription on a vessel of so poor a design 

 marks a distinct decline in the art appreciation of the early rulers 

 of the Chou Dynasty in comparison with those of the Shang who 

 preceded them. 



Occidental museums and authorities unite in refusing to allow 

 any bronzes to be labeled " Shang," and unfortunately the Palace 

 Museum here in Peiping has followed suit. But the Shang Dynasty 

 was, we know, prolific in its art; and I am convinced that many of 

 our existing bronzes belong to that period. On a fragment of in- 

 scribed bone which dates from the time of Tsu Kong are two im- 

 portant statements : One which mentions the honorable (or valuable) 

 tripod of Wu Ting ; and another which speaks of writing on bamboo 

 tablets. Here we have proof that not only were costly sacrificial 

 vessels in existence in the time of King Wu Ting, but also that at 

 that period, in addition to the oracle records on bone, there were also 

 other writings, on slips of bamboo, which, however, have unfortu- 

 nately not been preserved. 



• No entire vessel appears ever to have been found. 



'A small stream In the province of Hopel (that in which Peiping Is situated). 



