This is the first book in a series wherein Late Shang to Zhou dynasty ritual bronze vessels with inscriptions that have been found in the Philippines will be documented including: details, background, photographs, inscriptions, relevant and historical information. Part 1 focuses on bronze ritual wine vessels with inscriptions that have been unearthed in the Philippines.
The purpose of this thesis is to catalog the collection of Shang Dynasty bronze ritual vessels within the collection of the Buffalo Museum of Science. Consisting of a li-ding, a gu, a jue, and a hu, each vessel is treated separately, being given its own biographical chapter. Each chapter gives detailed descriptions, analysis of form and design, possible interpretations of inscriptions (where applicable), discusses its purpose and use, and concludes with what the observations may tell us about Shang society as a whole. Concluding remarks are given linking the vessels to each other and then to the museum itself. Finally, an explanation is given as to why this collection, consisting of only four vessels, should be considered at all by scholars in the field. Since they belong neither to the very highest rank in Shang society, nor to the very lowest, but to members of the intermediate classes, they help complete the story of Shang civilization by giving voice to those who silently and loyally made the bureaucracy run.
The thousands of ritual bronze vessels discovered by China's archaeologists serve as the major documentary source for the Western Zhou dynasty (1045-771 B.C.). These vessels contain long inscriptions full of detail on subjects as diverse as the military history of the period, the bureaucratic structure of the royal court, and lawsuits among the gentry. Moreover, being cast in bronze, the inscriptions preserve exactly the contemporary script and language. Shaughnessy has written a meticulous and detailed work on the historiography and interpretation of these objects. By demonstrating how the inscriptions are read and interpreted, Shaughnessy makes accessible in English some of the most important evidence about life in ancient China.
Austronesian Art and Genius brought us on a journey of discovery Book 2, The Austronesian Dilemma explored the abundant jade artifacts left by our ancestors to find answers to the questions of our past. In the 3rd book of the Austronesian series, The Austronesian Story in Western Zhou Bronze, we listen to the story told by ancient bronze vessels found on the Philippine islands and correlate them with similar artifacts of Classical China. These bronze vessels made in the piece-mold casting method were able to hold extremely fine detail, including ancient texts that captured historical events, giving us a precious opportunity to learn about the past as narrated by those who were actually there.
