Page 179 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

191. Archaic bronze wine or water vessel hu
Western Zhou dynasty, circa 11 - 8 centuries bc.
th
th
西周時期青銅壺
Height: 42.2 cm

A bronze vessel with an elongated, pear-shaped body, Provenance:
which, according to ancient inscriptions and classical ▪ Paulette Goddard Remarque Collection.
texts, was used for holding either fermented beverages ▪ J.T. Tai Collection, New York, U.S.A.
or water. The body of the elegantly shaped vessel is ▪ Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, France.
supported on a wide splayed foot and has a lug handle on
both its left and right upper sides. The vessel’s dome-like Similar examples:
cover is surmounted by a high, wide, tower-like hollow ▪ Similar vessels either undecorated or covered with
knob that turns outwards as it rises towards its thick rim. very elaborate design are illustrated in Hayashi M., In
Shu Jidai Seidoki no Kenkyu (In Shu Seidoki Soran
The undecorated vessel has a light green patina with Ichi), Conspectus of Yin and Zhou Bronzes, Tokyo
malachite and cuprite incrustations. 1984, Vol. I - Plates, p. 301 - 305.
▪ A similar hu, but with a small band of design on the
neck and on the cover, from the Avery Brundage
Collection of San Francisco, is published by Lefebvre
d’ Argencé R.Y., Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in The
Avery Brundage Collection, the Asian Art Museum,
San Francisco 1977, p. 95.
▪ Another hu, but with an exceptionally fine decoration
all over and now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
is published in Hayashi M., In Shu Jidai Seidoki no
Kenkyu (In Shu Seidoki Soran Ichi), Conspectus of Yin
and Zhou Bronzes, Tokyo 1984, Vol. I - Plates, p. 301,
no. 57.

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