Work / monument · artifact

Houmuwu ding

Also known as Simuwu ding

The Houmuwu ding is a rectangular bronze cauldron of the late Shang dynasty, found at Anyang in Henan in 1939. Weighing about 830 kilograms, it is the heaviest bronze vessel known from ancient China. Its inscription dedicates it to a royal mother named Wu, probably a consort of King Wu Ding, and it is now in the National Museum of China in Beijing.

Houmuwu ding
Image: Mlogic · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Houmuwu ding. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/houmuwu-ding
MLA
“Houmuwu ding.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/houmuwu-ding. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Houmuwu ding.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/houmuwu-ding.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Houmuwu ding’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/houmuwu-ding (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻