Ritual basin (pan) with dragons, fish, tigers, and birds

Decoration cast in relief but mainly in intaglio. Single character inscription. Green patination with some cuprite in the fossae. Foot dented.

Historical period(s)
early or middle Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty, ca. 1250-1150 BCE
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
H x Diam: 12.1 × 32.5 cm (4 3/4 × 12 13/16 in)
Geography
China, probably Henan province, Anyang
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1956.26
On View Location
Sackler Gallery 23b: Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Ritual vessel: pan

Keywords
Anyang period (ca. 1300 - ca. 1050 BCE), bird, China, dragon, fish, mythological animal, tiger
Provenance

To 1956
J. T. Tai & Co., New York, New York. [1]

From 1956
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from J. T. Tai & Co., New York, New York. [2]

Notes:

[1] See object file, Collections Management Office.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

J.T. Tai & Co. established in 1950

Description

Decoration cast in relief but mainly in intaglio. Single character inscription. Green patination with some cuprite in the fossae. Foot dented.

Inscription(s)

Inscribed on the interior of the basin, Xue 爻(學) (“Education Officer”)

Label

A mythical dragon, rendered as a large coiled beast with big eyes, horns, and ears, forms the main decoration of this pan from Anyang in Henan province. Four smaller dragons fill in spaces to complete the overall design. When this basin was used in the ritual practice of washing hands as a sign of purification and respect, the dragons would have been covered with water, as if they were sea creatures. Other versions of dragons appear on the exterior of the basin. Since dragons are imaginary yet powerful beasts, Chinese artists have produced endless variations of their supposed appearance, usually showing them ferociously posed in profile with gaping mouths and tense, curled tails.

Published References
  • William Watson. The Art of Dynastic China. New York, 1981. cat. 237.
  • T'an. Tan-chiung: T'ung ch'i kai shu. Taipei. pl. 55.
  • Shang Chou chin wen shi ch'eng. Multi-volume, Taipei. cat. 7424.
  • Parke-Bernet Galleries. Sale Catalogue, November 4, 1948. New York, November 4, 1948. cat. 1000.
  • Chugoku bijutsu [Chinese Art in Western Collections]. 5 vols., Tokyo, 1972-1973. vol. 4: fig. 31.
  • 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. vol. 2a, p. 55, fig. 62.
  • Jessica Rawson. Eccentric Bronzes of the Early Western Zhou. vol. 47 London, 1982-1983. p. 18.
  • Higuchi Takayasu. Kijin to ningen no Chugoku. Tokyo. p. 22.
  • Richard Edwards. The Artist and the Landscape: Changing Views of Nature in Chinese Painting. no. 6 Hong Kong, Spring 1976. cat. 6, pp. 30-52, pl. 15.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, Noel Barnard. The Freer Chinese Bronzes. Oriental Studies Series, vol. 1, no. 7 Washington. cat. 3, p. 35.
  • Helmut Brinker. The Decor Style of Shang White Pottery. vol. 21 New York and Honolulu, HI, 1967-1968. fog. 4, p. 54.
  • The Sze Yuan Tang Archaic Bronzes from the Anthony Hardy Collection: Christie's New York. sale 2508 New York, September 16, 2010. pp. 84-85, fig. 1.
  • Oriental Art Recently Acquired by American Museums. vol. 11 Honolulu. p. 90, fig. 12.
  • Jenny F. So. Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. Ancient Chinese Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. 3 New York, 1995. pp. 317, fig. 62.2.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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