Ritual wine container (zun) with masks (taotie), dragons, and birds

Historical period(s)
middle Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty, ca. 1150 BCE
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
H x Diam: 36.8 × 36.2 cm (14 1/2 × 14 1/4 in)
Geography
China, probably Henan province, Anyang
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1951.19
On View Location
Sackler Gallery 24b: Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Ritual vessel: zun

Keywords
Anyang period (ca. 1300 - ca. 1050 BCE), China, wine
Provenance

From at least 1949 to 1951
C. T. Loo & Company, New York, from at least May 11, 1949 [1]

From 1951
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on November 28, 1951 [2]

Notes:

[1] See C. T. Loo's Approval Memorandum, with an annotation that the listed objects were left by Loo at the Freer Gallery on May 11, 1949, copy in object file.

[2] According to information on Archival Vault Card, Registrar Office, copy in object file.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

C.T. Loo & Company 1914-1948

Inscription(s)

Inscribed on the bottom of the interior, Zi Gong 子龔 ("Prince Gong")

Published References
  • Daniel Freeman. Shang Bronzes in the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington and Princeton. cat. 14.
  • Harriet Griffiths. New Artists and Exhibitions. Washington, August 8, 1954. section E, p. 5.
  • Chin wen tsung chi. Taipei. vol. 6: p. 2521.
  • Bernhard Karlgren. Marginalia on Some Bronze Albums II. no. 32 Stockholm. p. 15, pl. 20b.
  • Chinese Art Recently Acquired by American Museums. vol. 6 Honolulu. p. 66, fig. 8.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, Noel Barnard. The Freer Chinese Bronzes. Oriental Studies Series, vol. 1, no. 7 Washington. cat. 16, p. 99.
  • Virginia Kane. The Chronological Significance of the Inscribed Ancestor Dedication in the Periodization of Shang Bronze Vessels. vol. 35, pt. 4 Washington and Zurich. pp. 335-37, fig. 6.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope. Bronze Culture of Ancient China by William Charles White: A Review. vol. 4 Washington and Ann Arbor. p. 436, pl. 1.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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