Houmuwu Cauldron

Houmuwu cauldron is a bronze ritual vessel in the late Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC) in China, also called Simuwu cauldron. Unearthed in 1939 from the large tombs of the royal mausoleum precinct at **beigang in Yinxu site of the Shang Dynasty, Anyang, Henan Province. It weighs 832.84 kg, has a height of 133 cm, and its mouth is 110 cm long and 78 cm wide. It is the largest bronze vessel in the world (Fig. 1), now presented in the National Museum of China. The cauldron has a rectangular mouth and a straight body, with two vertical ears on the edge of the mouth and four cylindrical legs under the body. The four walls of body are decorated with two sets of beast face patterns and kuipatterns, the cauldron is decorated with a set of independent beast face patterns, the outer edge of the cauldron ear is decorated with tiger cannibal patterns, and the side edge of the ear is decorated with fish patterns. Three characters “Si (Hou) Mu Wu” are inscribed near the mouth of the ventral side of...