Rubbing of Inscription on the Hu Ding(Mid-Western Zhou Dynasty)

Qing Dynasty(1644-1911)HuDing,(ding, a kind of food vessel in ancient China) one of the most important Bronze in the mid-western zhou, has more than 400 inscriptions and is the important document proving the existence of the slavery at that time. Huding was collected by Bi Ruan, the govenor(reading xunfu)in Shanxi, a city in the northwest of China, Qing dynasty. At that time, Qian Dian was his surbordinate. However, Bi was sentenceed to corruption, so his proverty was confiscated. His families sinked the ding into Lake Taihu( one of the five freshwater lakes in China). From then on, the ding has lost. The length of The rubbing of inscription on the huding collected by Sichuan museum is 27.2 cm,and the width is 27cm. If includes epilog, then the length is 67cm, and the width is 41cm. The epilog written in the seal script has 24 lines, 16 lines or 17 lines and so on. The last word on the 1st,11th,17th and 18th line are all wore. The other's are wore half. The rubbing was collected and rubbed by Qian Dian, an epigrapher in Qing dynasty. There are seals, reading " rubbed by xianzhi" , "shenshi jijin leshi" "shuyong shending"(sealed by Shen shuyong, a collector in Qing dynasty). There are epilog and seal by Zhang Tingji, the epigrapher in Qing dynasty, reading“Zhang Tingji yin" "tingji" "shuwei". Rubbing expert of the Palace Musuem, Mr. Ma Ziyun regards it as the treasure after appreciating the rubbbing.