Ritual grain server (gui) with spikes, ribs, and, dragons

Ceremonial vessel, type kuei. Surface: silvery gray patina with patches of green aerugo; rough green patination inside; azurite under the foot. Decoration: in relief and incised.

Historical period(s)
Early Western Zhou dynasty, ca. 1050-1000 BCE
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
H x W: 23.2 x 37.2 cm (9 1/8 x 14 5/8 in)
Geography
China, Shaanxi province, Baoji
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1931.10
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Ritual vessel: gui

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

1931
C. T. Loo & Company, New York 1931 [1]

From 1931
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company, New York in 1931 [2]

Notes:

[1] Object file, undated folder sheet note.

[2] See note 1. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

C.T. Loo & Company 1914-1948

Description

Ceremonial vessel, type kuei. Surface: silvery gray patina with patches of green aerugo; rough green patination inside; azurite under the foot. Decoration: in relief and incised.

Published References
  • William Watson. Ancient Chinese Bronzes. The Arts of the East London. pl. 21c.
  • Benjamin Rowland, Laurence Sickman, H. G. Henderson, Robert Treat Paine, Richard Ettinghausen, Eric Schroeder. The University Prints. Oriental Art Series O 4 vols. Newton, Massachusetts, 1938-1941. Section 2: Early Chinese Art, pl. 102.
  • 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. 3, fig. 4.
  • Sueji Umehara. Shina kodo seikwa [Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and Asia]. 3 vols., Osaka. vol. 2: pl. 104.
  • 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. 135.
  • Keng Jung, Chang Wei. Yin Chou ch'ing t'ung ch'i t'ung lun [A Survey of Shang-Chou Bronzes]. Peking. cat. 64.
  • Carl Hentze. Fruhchinesische Bronzen und Kultdarstellungen. Antwerp. pl. 1a.
  • The Editors of Time-Life Books. China. Library of Nations Amsterdam. .
  • 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 225.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Thomas Lawton, Harold P. Stern. The Freer Gallery of Art. 2 vols., Washington and Tokyo, 1971-1972. cat. 8, vol. 1: pp. 153-154.
  • Grace Dunham Guest, Archibald Gibson Wenley. Annotated Outlines of the History of Chinese Arts. Washington, 1949. p. 3.
  • 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. pp. 5, 54, pl. 28.
  • Sueji Umehara. Kyosei-sho Hokei-ken shutsudo no daini no henkin [The Second Set of Ritual Vessels "pen-chin" from Pao-chi-hsien, Shan-hsi Province]. vol. 1 Kyoto, July 1959. p. 9.
  • Bernhard Karlgren. Some New Bronzes in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. no. 24 Stockholm. p. 17.
  • Dagny Carter. Four Thousand Years of China's Art. New York. p. 41, b.
  • Charles D. Weber. Chinese Pictorial Bronze Vessels of the Late Chou Period, Part I (of IV). vol. 28, no. 2/3 Washington and Zurich. p. 150, fig. 16a.
  • W. A C. H. Dobson. Early Archaic Chinese: A Descriptive Grammar. Toronto. pp. 190-192.
  • Alfred Salmony. Chou-bronzen der Freer Gallery in Washington. vol. 11, no. 18 Munich, November 1936. p. 355.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, Noel Barnard. The Freer Chinese Bronzes. Oriental Studies Series, vol. 1, no. 7 Washington. cat. 66, p. 369.
  • Jessica Rawson. Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. Ancient Chinese Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. 2 Washington and Cambridge, Massachusetts. p. 696, fig. 117.2.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery welcome information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

citation | Save this image How to download an image | Terms of Use

Related Objects