Ritual wine vessel (fangtsun)

Ceremonial wine vessel, type fang tsun. Surface: smooth dark green patina, with two areas of light-green, and a scattering aerugo of malachite green; traces of earthy incrustation. Decoration: in low and high relief. Inscription scratched within the lip.

Historical period(s)
Western Zhou dynasty, late 11th-early 10th century BCE
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
H x W: 34.5 x 27 cm (13 9/16 x 10 5/8 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1925.2
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Ritual vessel: fangtsun

Keywords
China, Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050 - 771 BCE), wine
Provenance

1925
Parish-Watson Company, New York 1925 [1]

From 1925
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Parish-Watson Company, New York in 1925 [2]

Notes:

[1] Object file, undated folder sheet note. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Parish-Watson Company

Description

Ceremonial wine vessel, type fang tsun. Surface: smooth dark green patina, with two areas of light-green, and a scattering aerugo of malachite green; traces of earthy incrustation. Decoration: in low and high relief. Inscription scratched within the lip.

Inscription(s)

Inscription scratched within the lip.

Published References
  • Parish-Watson Company. Exhibition of Decorative Arts by Parish-Watson & company, inc. New York City: Rare old Chinese porcelains, potteries, bronzes and sculptures; early Persian faience, carpets and miniatures, French furniture and tapestries; English portraits. New York. no. 92.
  • Bernhard Karlgren. Some New Bronzes in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. no. 24 Stockholm. fig. 21.
  • Sueji Umehara. Shina kodo seikwa [Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and Asia]. 3 vols., Osaka. vol. 1: pl. 18.
  • 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. 9, no. 11.
  • Sueji Umehara. Amerika no hakubutsukan ni okeru Shina no kobijutsu [Ancient Chinese Art in North American Museums]. no. 16/17, June 1930. pl. 36.
  • Osvald Siren. Kinas Konst Under Tre Artusenden. 2 vols., Stockholm, 1942-1943. vol. 1: pl. 7.
  • Osvald Siren. A History of Early Chinese Art. 4 vols., London, 1929-1930. pl. 32.
  • Hugo Munsterberg. A Short History of Chinese Art. New York, 1949. pl. 3.
  • Dr. Berthold Laufer. Archaic Chinese Bronzes of the Shang, Chou and Han periods in the Collections of Mr. Parish-Watson. New York. opp. p. 16, pl. 7.
  • Keng Jung. Shang chou i ch'i t'ung k'ao: Researches in Ceremonial Vessels of the Shang and Chou Dynasties. Peiping. vol. 2: pl. 289.
  • Chen Mengjia. Yin Zhou qing tong qi fen lei tu lu [Yin-Chou ch'ing t'ung ch'i fen lei t'u lu]. 2 vols., Dongjing. vol. 2: A 405.
  • Dagny Carter. Four Thousand Years of China's Art. New York. p. 23.
  • Rene Grousset. La Chine et son Art. Collection Ars et historia Paris. p. 28.
  • Compiled by the staff of the Freer Gallery of Art. A Descriptive and Illustrative Catalogue of Chinese Bronzes: Acquired During the Administration of John Ellerton Lodge. Oriental Studies Series, no. 3 Washington, 1946. p. 39, pl. 18.
  • Agnes E. Meyer. The Charles L. Freer Collection. vol. 12, no. 2 Brooklyn, August 1927. p. 64.
  • Hai wai i chen [Chinese Art in Overseas Collections]. Taipei, 1985. p. 86.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, Noel Barnard. The Freer Chinese Bronzes. Oriental Studies Series, vol. 1, no. 7 Washington. cat. 17, p. 105.
  • William Willetts. Foundations of Chinese Art from Neolithic Pottery to Modern Architecture. New York, 1965. p. 110.
  • Howard F. Collins. Decor, Function, and Contour in Early Chinese Bronzes. vol. 12, no. 2 London, Summer 1966. p. 116, fig. 5.
  • Judith Burling, Arthur H. Burling. Chinese Art. New York. p.223.
  • Sueji Umehara. Shina kokogaku ronko [Studies in Chinese Archaeology]. Showa 13 Tokyo, 1938-1940. p. 536.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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