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PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTION Noel Barnard and Cheung Kwong-Yue, Rubbings and Hand Copies of Bronze
Inscriptions in Chinese, Japanese, European, American, and Australasian
1007 Collections, Taipei, 1978, no. 964 (inscription only).
Yan Yiping, Jinwen Zongji (Corpus of Bronze Inscriptions), Taipei, 1983, nos.
AN UNUSUAL SMALL BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND 5093 and 6394 (inscription only).
COVER, YOU Minao Hayashi, In Shu jidai seidoki no kenkyu (Conspectus of Yin and Zhou
EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC Bronzes), vol. 1 (plates), Tokyo, 1984, you no. 167.
Yinzhou jinwen jicheng (Compendium of Yin and Zhou Bronze Inscriptions),
The plain, broad pear-shaped body of circular section is raised on a spreading The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing,
foot pierced with four slits, each positioned below one of the V-shaped loops 1984, no. 4888 (inscription only).
that project from between bow-string borders on the shoulder. The cover has J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections,
slightly waisted sides and a domed top surmounted by a knob decorated on vol. IIB, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington D.C., 1990, pp. 486-7,
the sides with upright petals and on top with stepped circles. A two-character no. 66.
inscription, li vessel, is cast in the bottom of the you and inside the cover. The Wang Xiantang, Guoshi jinshi zhigao (A Record of Bronze and Stone
smooth surface is of dark grey color mottled in milky green. Inscriptions in Chinese History), Qingdao, 2004, no. 281 (inscription on the
cover only).
6æ in. (17.1 cm.) high Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng (Compendium
of Inscriptions and Images of Bronzes from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties),
$10,000-15,000 Shanghai, 2012, vol. 23, p. 190, no. 12740.
PROVENANCE This you is unusual not only in its small size and round cross-section, rather
than the more usual elliptical cross-section of most you, but also in the use of
Collection of Liu E (1857-1909). four V-shaped loops and the corresponding slits in the foot, suggesting that
J. T. Tai & Company, New York, 17 October 1967. the cover was secured and carried by the use of straps, rather than the swing
Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987) Collections. handle normally seen on you of late Shang or Western Zhou date. In Western
Else Sackler (1913-2000) Collection, and thence by descent within the family. Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Rawson
compares the shape of this you to ceramic examples, including one from
LITERATURE Anyang illustrated p. 487, fg. 66.1, which also has “pointed lugs.” Rawson
also notes, p. 496, that “ a sequence of development from short, rounded
Luo Zhenyu, Zhensongtang jigu yiwen (Gathering of Ancient Writings at the Shang you to taller early Zhou you is established by a series of highly fnished
Zhensongtang Studio), 1930, vol. 8, p. 5 (inscription only). vessels that can be dated by their inscriptions.”
Liu Chenggan, Xigulou jinshi cuibian (Selected Bronzes and Stelea Inscriptions
at the Xigulou Studio), 1933, vol. 5, p. 8. 西周早期 旅彝卣
Liu Tizhi, Xiaojiaojinge jinwen taben (Rubbings of Archaic Bronze Inscriptions
at the Xiaojiaojingge Studio), 1935, vol. 4, p. 13 (inscription only).
Luo Zhenyu, Sandai jijin wencun (Surviving Writings from the Xia, Shang, and
Zhou Dynasties), 1937, vol. 12, p. 45 (inscription only).
