Page 80 - Bonhams, The H Collection, Classical Chinese Furniture, May 13, 2021 London

Outstanding for its remarkably-preserved crisp decoration of the leiwen According to Robert Bagley, the oval shape of you vessels, which the
pattern, which complements the elegant and slightly compressed present example displays, did not appear until after the first century of
form of the pear-shaped body, the present vessel displays the features the Anyang period (1600-1046BC) and could greatly vary from a taller,
traditionally associated with bronze production of the early Western to a cylindrical, square and even animal shape standing on four legs
Zhou dynasty. and cast with a long spout; see R.Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the
Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, 1987, p.374.
The you was one of the most important wine vessels of the late
Shang and Zhou periods. Together with other bronze vessels By the Western Zhou period (circa 1046-771 BC) the basic shape of the
manufactured for holding food and wine, the you formed part of the you was slightly modified; its profile became more compact and its oval
ritual paraphernalia employed during the performance of important section more squared. Although contemporaneous examples slightly
sacrifices to the ancestors of the highest-ranking families of the time. differed in proportion and profile, as well as in the shape of the handle
These vessels were often cast with inscriptions recording the land and and the knob, the linear decoration of the present you is closer to late
regional affiliations of the ancestors and their wider families. Honoured Shang examples lacking the flanges and decorated only with narrow
and commemorated through the use of these precious vessels, bands of design around the cover, shoulder and foot, leaving the main
the ancestral spirits were encouraged to confer blessings on their body plain. For a discussion about the different typologies of you dating
descendants; whilst at the same time, the use of the vessel displayed, from the late Shang period, see R.Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the
to the living, the power and wealth of their deceased owner. Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, 1987, pls.68-70.

The number of vessels owned by a noble of the late Shang and By the end of the Middle Western Zhou period, the you disappeared
Zhou periods numbered from twenty to forty-five pieces. Rarely from the repertoire of bronze vessels used for ritual purposes, along
would these vessels have been of exactly the same date or cast with other wine vessels such as zun and jue. The nature and reason
with closely-related decoration; but all were nonetheless products for this development are obscure; however, they may be explained
of a readily-intelligible system that depended on the replication of in terms of religious reform spurred by political reasons. The political
design elements from one generation to the next. By owning and and economic turmoil that accompanied the latter part of the Western
using vessels that called to mind more remote eras, the patrons Zhou may have in fact triggered a concern with the stability of the state
could reach back beyond the immediate past so they could and with rituals as means of ensuring cohesion; see J.Rawson, ‘Late
associate themselves with earlier generations and their deeds; see Western Zhou. A Break in the Shang Bronze Tradition’, in Early China,
J.Rawson, ‘Reinventing Ancient Ornament and the Presence of the 1985-1987, vols.11 and 12, pp.289-296.
Past: Examples from Shang and Zhou Bronze Vessels’, in Wu Hung,
Reinventing the Past. Archaism and Antiquarianism in Chinese Visual Compare with a similar archaic bronze vessel and cover, you, Western
Art and Culture, Chicago, 2010, pp.47-76. Zhou dynasty, illustrated by R.Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur
M.Sackler Collections, Washington, 1987, p.402, fig.71.1. Another
Despite the early occurrence of the term you in Shang oracle-bone related bronze vessel and cover, you, early Western Zhou dynasty, is
inscriptions and Western Zhou bronze inscriptions which refer to a illustrated by J.Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur
vessel employed for storing aromatic wine, the association of the M. Sackler Collections: vol.IIB, Washington, 1995, p.494, pl.68.
term you with the shape of the current example appears to date to
later times. By the Northern Song period, the ‘Catalogue of Illustrated A related archaic bronze you, early Western Zhou dynasty, was sold at
Antiques’ Kaogutu employed you to define eight different bronze Sotheby’s New York, 21 March 2018, lot 584; see also a mid Western
vessels of similar shape to the present example; see Wang Tao, Zhou bronze you of similar shape but with different motifs, which was
Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2009, p.62. sold at Christie’s New York, 23 March 2012, lot 1524.

卣圓鼓腹，圈足，蓋穹頂。蓋、器皆飾單層變形夔紋，以雷紋填地， 至西周時，形如本例身呈梨形、頸帶提樑的樣式開始流行。但紋飾仍
上下飾連珠紋一周。器身連珠紋之下再起弦紋一匝，正中鑄有浮雕獸 舊保持了商晚期的裝飾風格，多以雷紋作地，夔龍紋或鳳鳥紋為主題
首以作中軸。器以半環銜接提梁，提梁兩端雕飾獸首，表面同樣飾夔 的帶飾環繞蓋、頸一周，器身餘無他飾。有關商晚期以來青銅卣的不
紋及雷紋，中心起扉棱。圈足飾弦紋兩匝。 同類型，參考R.Bagley著，《Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M.
Sackler Collections》，華盛頓，1987年，圖版68-70。
卣為古代重要的盛酒器。《詩經》有云，「秬鬯一卣」。秬鬯是古代
祭祀神靈時用的酒，以香草與黑黍釀製而成，色黃而芳香，後更成為 西周中期以後，青銅酒器種類銳減，包括卣、尊、爵等逐漸銷聲匿
漢晉時期皇帝賜給諸侯、大臣有殊勳者的「九錫」之一；卣即指盛放 跡。其中原因尚不明晰，一說西周後期統治階層為穩定時局，改革
秬鬯的酒器。雖然在殷墟甲骨文卜辭、先秦文獻乃至如毛公鼎銘文 了祭祀形式。見J.Rawson著，〈Late Western Zhou. A Break in the
等西周金文中都有「卣」的存在，但出土青銅器中尚未發現自命為 Shang Bronze Tradition〉，收錄於《Early China》，卷11及12，1985-
「卣」的器物。北宋時期，呂大臨所著《考古圖》始將八件如此器型 1987年，頁289-296。
的青銅禮器命名為「卣」。參見汪濤著，《玫茵堂藏中國銅器》，
倫敦，2009年，頁62。 參考一件相似的西周時期青銅卣，收錄於R.Bagley著，《Shang Ritual
Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections》，華盛頓，1987年，
現今的出土陶器中未見卣這類器型。青銅卣始見於商，盛行於商晚 頁402，圖版71.1。另見一例西周早期青銅卣，收錄於J.Rawson
期和西周。據Robert Bagley所述，安陽時期的青銅卣形式多樣，或 著，《Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler
為高圓柱形、方形，或下呈三足、四足，乃至模仿各類動物形狀製 Collections》，卷二B，華盛頓，1995年，頁494，圖版68。
成。見R.Bagley著，《Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler
Collections》，華盛頓，1987年，頁374。 一件西周早期青銅卣，售於紐約蘇富比，2018年3月21日，拍品編號
584；以及一件西周中期青銅卣，形制與本例相似但裝飾不同，售於
紐約佳士得，2012年3月23日，拍品編號1524，可資比對。

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