Ritual vessel in the shape of a rhinoceros

Sometime in the second half of the eleventh century BCE, a courtier at the mighty kingdom of Shang commissioned this bronze vessel, one that is among the most celebrated Chinese bronzes in the world.

This vessel is extraordinary for two reasons: its shape and its text. Animal shapes of any kind were rare among Bronze Age Chinese vessels, but this one is unique, portraying a rhinoceros in the flesh. Though measuring only nine inches tall, the beast is lively and powerful, with features portrayed with a straightforward, natural charm. Its drooping body is heavy and plump, imparting a very tactile appeal; its legs are stout and splayed, conveying vividly the great weight they carry; its skull appears like a powerful locomotive with two horns. The bronze caster attentively depicted the teeth and the puckered hide, odd-numbered toes, and stubby tail. The extended ears indicate that the rhinoceros is in a state of high alert. One detail the caster omitted, however, is the genitals of the beast; we do not know its sex.

The fact that the rhinoceros has two horns suggests a Sumatran rhinoceros, which probably roamed the land of China three millennia ago. The rhinoceros’s belly is exaggerated to accommodate a rounded cavity, which makes it a vessel. The vessel would originally have had a lid, one probably modeled to conform to the contours of the animal’s body.

The courtier in question went into some length intimating the reason for making this extraordinary creature in an inscription in the inside bottom of the vessel. Composed of twenty-seven characters, the inscription (shown atleft) may be translated as,
On the day dingsi [the 54th day of the ancient Chinese sixty-day cycle], the King inspected the Kui temple. The King bestowed upon Xiaochen [Lesser Minister] Yu cowry shells from Kui. It was the time when the King returned from the military campaign against the Renfang. It was the King’s fifteenth sacrificial cycle, a day in the rong-ritual cycle.

Lesser Minster Yu apparently commissioned the rhinoceros-shaped vessel as a tangible testimony for his service to the Shang king, one that warranted a royal grant of cowrie shells, which could be used as a medium of exchange for other commodities such as metal. He took pain to document the place and time of the king’s gift. Yet, he was mute on the actual accomplishment for which he was rewarded, though we can suspect it involved the military campaign. Equally mystifying was why he chose to have his vessel made in the shape of a rhinoceros, though he surely succeeded in capturing our fascination and inspiring our imagination with it.