Food container with lid (dui 敦)

Dui (dun). Surface: smooth gray-green outside with patches of incrustation; rough green inside. Decoration: inlaid with silver; mask-and-ring handles, and four upright handles in the cover, in relief.

Historical period(s)
Warring States period, Eastern Zhou dynasty, 4th century BCE
Medium
Bronze with silver inlay
Dimensions
H x W: 15 x 22.2 cm (5 7/8 x 8 3/4 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1938.7a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Ritual vessel: dui

Keywords
China, Eastern Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 BCE), Warring States period (475 - 221 BCE)
Provenance

From at least 1937 to 1938
C. T. Loo & Company, New York from at least December 3, 1937 [1]

From 1938
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on February 4, 1938 [2]

Notes:

[1] See "List of objects owned by C. T. Loo, New York [and left at] the Gallery for examination," with an annotation that the bronze was left by Mr. Loo on December 3, 1937, copy in object file.

[2] See C. T. Loo's invoice, dated January 17, 1938 with an annotation that it was passed for payment on February 4, 1938, copy in object file. The object was acquired as dated to 3rd-4th century B.C.E.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

C.T. Loo & Company 1914-1948

Description

Dui (dun). Surface: smooth gray-green outside with patches of incrustation; rough green inside. Decoration: inlaid with silver; mask-and-ring handles, and four upright handles in the cover, in relief.

Published References
  • Chinese Archaeological Exhibition. no. 5 Washington. cat. 128.
  • William Watson. Ancient Chinese Bronzes. The Arts of the East London. pl. 75a.
  • 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. 5, fig. 11.
  • T'an Tan-chiung. T'ung ch'i kai shu. Taipei. pl. 135.
  • Jenny F. So. Bronze Styles of the Eastern Zhou Period. Ann Arbor. pl. 71a, b.
  • Grace Dunham Guest, Archibald Gibson Wenley. Annotated Outlines of the History of Chinese Arts. Washington, 1949. p. 3.
  • Thomas Lawton. Object of the Month: Chinese Bronze Vessel. vol. 14 Hong Kong, January 1983. pp. 15-20.
  • Thomas Lawton. Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C. Washington, 1982-1983. cat. 9, pp. 43-45.
  • 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. p. 52, fig. 85.
  • 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. 62, pl. 33.
  • Herman Floris Eduard Visser. Aziatische Kunst in Amerika, I-II. vol. 16, no. 2/4 Amsterdam, February - April 1939. pp. 100-101, 103.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, Noel Barnard. The Freer Chinese Bronzes. Oriental Studies Series, vol. 1, no. 7 Washington. cat. 104, p. 533.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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