Ritual wine warmer with taotie

Ceremonial wine vessel, type chueh. Surface: variable apple green and bluish patina; traces of earthy incrustation; pin hole in bottom; tips of the three legs repaired. Decoration: cast in low and incised relief; flanges strongly projecting.

Historical period(s)
Late Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty, ca. early 11th century BCE
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
H x W x D: 24.9 x 22.6 x 13.7 cm (9 13/16 x 8 7/8 x 5 3/8 in)
Geography
China, Henan province, Anyang
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1925.3
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Ritual vessel: jue

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

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

From 1925
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Parish-Watson Company, New York in the spring of 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 chueh. Surface: variable apple green and bluish patina; traces of earthy incrustation; pin hole in bottom; tips of the three legs repaired. Decoration: cast in low and incised relief; flanges strongly projecting.

Label

Equipping tombs and offering elaborate symbolic banquets to deceased family members were important ritual acts in ancient China. This small jue held a serving of grain wine for an honored ancestor.

Published References
  • Everard M. Upjohn, Paul S. Wingert, Jane G. Mahler. History of World Art. New York. fig. 535.
  • 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. 93.
  • Sueji Umehara. Shina kodo seikwa [Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and Asia]. 3 vols., Osaka. vol. 1: pl. 58.
  • Osvald Siren. A History of Early Chinese Art. 4 vols., London, 1929-1930. pl. 42.
  • 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 349.
  • Dr. Berthold Laufer. Archaic Chinese Bronzes of the Shang, Chou and Han periods in the Collections of Mr. Parish-Watson. New York. p. 4, pl. 1.
  • Katheryn M. Linduff. The Incidence of Lead in Late Shang and Early Chou Ritual Vessels. vol. 19, no. 3 Philadelphia, Spring 1977. pp. 7-16, fig. 4.
  • Capolavori nei secoli: Enciclopedia di tutte i popoli in tutti i tempi. 12 vols., Milan, 1961 - 1964. p. 15 C.
  • 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. 24, pl. 3.
  • Dagny Carter. Four Thousand Years of China's Art. New York. p. 25, c.
  • Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Jean-Claude Moreau-Gobard. Chinese Art: Bronze, Jade, Sculpture, Ceramics. The Universe Library of Antique Art 4 vols., , 1st ed. London and New York. p. 56, pl. 19.
  • Beasts & Beauty in Bronze., February 10, 1958. p. 84.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, Noel Barnard. The Freer Chinese Bronzes. Oriental Studies Series, vol. 1, no. 7 Washington. cat. 25, p. 147.
  • Michel Beurdeley. L'amateur chinois des Han au XXe siecle. Aspects de l'art Fribourg. no. 5, p. 214.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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