Container (bu) with masks (taotie), dragons, and waterfowl

Ceremonial vessel with a cover, of the type “p’ou.” Rim broken; holes in foot rim and side wall.
Surface: smooth jade-green patina merging into blue, with areas of green and brown incrustation.
Decoration: in relief. Crocketed flanges (some broken). Inscription inside.

Historical period(s)
ca. 1100-1050 BCE
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
H x Diam: 37.3 × 32.5 cm (14 11/16 × 12 13/16 in)
Geography
China, middle Yangzi River region
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1913.30a-b
On View Location
Sackler Gallery 23a: Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Container: bu

Keywords
bird, China, Shang dynasty (ca. 1600 - ca. 1050 BCE), Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050 - 771 BCE)
Provenance

To 1913
Edgar Worch (1880-1972), New York to 1913 [1]

From 1913 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Edgar Worch in 1913 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Bronze List, S.I. 517, 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)

Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Edgar Worch (C.L. Freer source) 1880-1972

Description

Ceremonial vessel with a cover, of the type "p'ou." Rim broken; holes in foot rim and side wall.
Surface: smooth jade-green patina merging into blue, with areas of green and brown incrustation.
Decoration: in relief. Crocketed flanges (some broken). Inscription inside.

Published References
  • Shang Chou chin wen shi ch'eng. Multi-volume, Taipei. cat. 6221.
  • Carl Hentze. Bronzegerat, Kultbauten: Religion im ältesten China der Shang-Zeit. 2 vols., Antwerp. pl. 141.
  • Sueji Umehara. On the Shapes of the Bronze Vessels of Ancient China: An Archaeological Study. Toho Bunka Gakuin kyoto kenkyujo kenkyu hohoku, vol.15 Kyoto. pl. 18, no. 3.
  • Sueji Umehara. Shina kodo seikwa [Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and Asia]. 3 vols., Osaka. vol. 2: pl. 129.
  • Carl Whiting Bishop, C. G. Abbot, Ales Hrdlicka. Man from the Farthest Past. Smithsonian scientific series, v. 7 New York. pl. 91.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, Noel Barnard. The Freer Chinese Bronzes. Oriental Studies Series, vol. 1, no. 7 Washington. cat. 2, p. 27.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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