The Shang Royal Lineage and Ritual Bronze Vessels
Reading assignment: Shang Kingship and Shang Kinship, Shang Ritual Bronzes
On Wednesday, we'll be covering two topics. The first of these will be the social organization that formed the "grammar" of Shang politics -- that is, the lineage structures that determined the rulers of the Shang royal house. The oracle texts provide us with endless detail on specific identities of the Shang kings and queens in their postmortem roles as ancestors. From these, we can piece together a model of Shang royal succession, and, by inference, some possible features of the way in which the royal clan, and perhaps other elite clans, were organized as corporate, power-sharing groups.
However, our main order of business will be to look at and interpret the most aesthetically spectacular products of ancient China -- Shang ritual bronzes, artistic products of startling technical brilliance. Our focus in this discussion will be on both the ritual and religious significance of the fact of the vessels' existence in the Shang, and on the more particular question of the significance of the artistic motifs that ornament the surfaces of the vessels. Your readings will offer you the theories of Max Loehr and K.C. Chang on the latter point, and we'll look at some slides of bronze vessels to discuss these alternative possibilities.
