Chen Houding

[Chen Houding]

Chen Houding, 23.6cm in height, 31.6cm in caliber, and 5.58kg in weight
The tripod has an open mouth, turned lips, two ears attached to the edge of the mouth, the belly of the pelvis, and three hoofed feet, and the upper part of the belly is decorated with a band of pilferage patterns
The inscription on the inner wall of the vessel was cast in four lines and 21 characters:
At the beginning of the first month of the lunar calendar, Jiding
was made by the marquis of Chen, and the four concubines of Gui were made by him
The casting time of the vessel is “the first day of the first month of the year”. The caster is the marquis of Chen, the owner of the vessel is “the fourth mother of Gui”, and “it is used for its eternal life” is the prayer. The owner of the utensil, the surname Gui, the female, and the fourth mother, came from the royal family of the Marquis of Chen. The unrecognizable character in front of the word Gui may be the ranking character of the fourth mother
From the characteristics of the objects, the belly of Chen Houding is more like the similar objects in the late Western Zhou Dynasty represented by Mao Gongding, but it has become shallow, and the hooves and feet have also developed into thin and long, and the way of stealing curved lines is slightly rough. In the layout of the inscription, pay attention to the arrangement of the top and bottom, and also consider the alternation between the left and the right. The strokes are smooth and powerful. From the content of the inscription, it belongs to concubines. All of the above items have the characteristics of the same kind of bronze sacrificial vessels and other types of bronze sacrificial vessels in the early Spring and Autumn Period. Therefore, the Chen Hou Ding is designated as the early Spring and Autumn Period
The tripod was originally compiled by Chen Jieqi, an editor of the former Qinghan Forest Academy, and recorded in the “Ancient Bibliography and Inscription of the Fu Zhai Collection”. Chen’s inscription was handed down to the world. In the 1950s, the device was owned by the state and collected in the Palace Museum.

陈侯鼎铭文拓片