Ritual wine container (zun) with masks (taotie)

Ceremonial vessel, type zun. Light green patina. Traces of reddish and black pigments in the design. Incrustations of cuprite and azurite inside. Inscribed on the bottom of the interior, Ya Mo Quan Fu Ding 亚莫犬(獏)父丁 (“Deputy Officer of the Hounds [for the Royal Hunting Grounds] at Mo (made for) Deceased Father Ding”).

Historical period(s)
late Anyang Period, Late Shang dynasty, ca. 1100-1050 BCE
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
H x Diam: 29.7 × 23.1 cm (11 11/16 × 9 1/8 in)
Geography
China, probably Henan province, Anyang
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1944.1
On View Location
Sackler Gallery 24c: Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Ritual vessel: zun

Keywords
Anyang period (ca. 1300 - ca. 1050 BCE), China, Shang dynasty (ca. 1600 - ca. 1050 BCE)
Provenance

From 1941 to 1943
C. T. Loo & Company, New York from November 1941 [1]

From 1943
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on December 8, 1943 [2]

Notes:

[1] See C. T. Loo's stockcard no. 87477: "Bronze Tsun relief [masks]. Shang," C. T. Loo & Frank Caro Archive, Musée Guimet, Paris, copy in object file.

[2] See C. T. Loo's invoice, dated December 8, 1943, copy in object file.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

C.T. Loo & Company 1914-1948

Description

Ceremonial vessel, type zun. Light green patina. Traces of reddish and black pigments in the design. Incrustations of cuprite and azurite inside. Inscribed on the bottom of the interior, Ya Mo Quan Fu Ding 亚莫犬(獏)父丁 (“Deputy Officer of the Hounds [for the Royal Hunting Grounds] at Mo (made for) Deceased Father Ding”).

Inscription(s)

Inscribed on the bottom of the interior, Ya Mo Quan Fu Ding 亚莫犬(獏)父丁 (“Deputy Officer of the Hounds [for the Royal Hunting Grounds] at Mo (made for) Deceased Father Ding”)

Published References
  • Archibald Gibson Wenley, Dr. John Alexander Pope. China. War Background Study, no. 20 Washington. pl. 25.
  • Sueji Umehara. Yin hsu: Ancient Capital of the Shang Dynasty at An-yang. Tokyo. pl. 87.
  • Chin wen tsung chi. Taipei. vol. 6: p. 2368.
  • 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.
  • Grace Dunham Guest, Archibald Gibson Wenley. Annotated Outlines of the History of Chinese Arts. Washington, 1949. p. 1.
  • Bernhard Karlgren. Marginalia on Some Bronze Albums II. no. 32 Stockholm. p. 10, pl. 15b.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, Noel Barnard. The Freer Chinese Bronzes. Oriental Studies Series, vol. 1, no. 7 Washington. cat. 13, p. 85.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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