Ceremonial vessel (yu) with cover

Chinese
Recent

Ceremonial vessel of the type “yu,” with cover.
Wood stand.
Surface: dark brown and malachite green patina; areas of blue aerugo inside.
Decoration: in low and high relief. Inscriptions inside of vessel and cover.

Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
H x W x D (assembled): 31.4 × 30.8 × 22.2 cm (12 3/8 × 12 1/8 × 8 3/4 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1909.260a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Ritual vessel: yu

Keywords
China, ram
Provenance

To 1909
Yung Pao Chai, Beijing, to 1909 [1]

From 1909 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yung Pao Chai in 1909 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Bronze List, S.I. 85, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. According to Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), pg. 18, Yung Pao Chai may have been Yongbaozhai, a shop established in the antique district of Liulichang in 1884.

[2] See note 1.

[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Yung Pao Chai (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Description

Chinese
Recent

Ceremonial vessel of the type "yu," with cover.
Wood stand.
Surface: dark brown and malachite green patina; areas of blue aerugo inside.
Decoration: in low and high relief. Inscriptions inside of vessel and cover.

Inscription(s)

Inscriptions on lid and inside of vessel are the same and read: '...Wang..(figures of three tigers), makes (for) Father Ting this valuable chuen...(name of vessel)'.
(See Curatorial Remark number 4)

Published References
  • Chin wen tsung chi. Taipei. vol. 7: p. 2995.
  • Bernhard Karlgren. Some New Bronzes in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. no. 24 Stockholm. fig. 15.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, Noel Barnard. The Freer Chinese Bronzes. Oriental Studies Series, vol. 1, no. 7 Washington. cat. 52, p. 295.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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