Ceremonial vessel with cover (kuang)

Ceremonial vessel, type “kung” with cover.
Surface: dark brown patina with small areas of green incrustation.
Decoration: engraved and in relief, with areas of gold and of silver inlay. Inscriptions inside of bowl and cover.

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Medium
Bronze, silver and gold inlay
Dimensions
H x W: 20.9 x 23.4 cm (8 1/4 x 9 3/16 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1912.72a-d
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Ritual vessel: fangguang

Keywords
China
Provenance

To 1912
Nan Ming Yuan, Tientsin, China, to 1912 [1]

From 1912 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Nan Ming Yuan in 1912 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Bronze List, S.I. 367, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[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)

Nan Ming Yuan (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Description

Ceremonial vessel, type "kung" with cover.
Surface: dark brown patina with small areas of green incrustation.
Decoration: engraved and in relief, with areas of gold and of silver inlay. Inscriptions inside of bowl and cover.

Published References
  • Shang Chou chin wen shi ch'eng. Multi-volume, Taipei. cat. 5399.
  • Robert Dale Jacobsen. Inlaid Bronzes of Pre-Imperial China: A Classical Tradition and Its Later Revivals. 2 vols. Ann Arbor. pl. 475.
  • William Watson. On Some Categories of Archaism in Chinese Bronze. vol. 9 Washington and Ann Arbor. pl. 9.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, Noel Barnard. The Freer Chinese Bronzes. Oriental Studies Series, vol. 1, no. 7 Washington. cat. 46, p. 263.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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