Page 137 - Sotheby's NYC September 20 2022 Forging An Empire Bronzes

Exhibition catalogue A Small Exhibition of
Fine Early Chinese Bronzes, John Sparks Ltd.,
London, 1954
展覽圖錄《A Small Exhibition of Fine Early
Chinese Bronzes》, John Sparks Ltd.,倫
敦，1954年

his bronze vessel, known as the Ju Fu Ding You, is well-proportioned and delicately cast
with narrow bands of intricate designs. The three-character inscription on this piece can be
Ttranslated to ‘Father Ding of the Ju clan’. As evidenced by the volume of unearthed bronzes
bearing this name, Ju was one of the largest clans active since the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC).
Although a gradual evolution of the pictogram Ju over the years can be observed, at least 168 bronzes
were inscribed with the type of pictogram as can be seen on the present piece (see He Jingcheng,
Shangzhou qingtongqi zushi mingwen yanjiu [Study of the clan pictograms on the bronzes from the Shang
and Zhou dynasties], Jinan, 2009, pp 75, 328-32, appendix A001). Vessels of this type were used as wine
containers in ancestral rituals during the Shang and Western Zhou (c. 1046-771 BC) periods.

At least three bronze you with lid and shoulder adorned with closely related triple bands appear to be
recorded: a vessel from the Avery Brundage Collection in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (accession
no. B60B82), with a handle terminating in rhinoceros heads, illustrated in René-Yvon Lefebvre D’Argencé,
Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1977, pl. XXXV (right);
another you with a five-character inscription, also with a handle ending with two animal heads, formerly in
the collection of Sir Herbert Ingram, sold in our London rooms, 14th December 1982, lot 6, and now in the
Meiyintang Collection, illustrated in Wang Tao, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London,
2009, pl. 30; and a further inscribed and handled you of larger scale, measuring 38.7cm in height, excavated
in 1955 from Hejiacun, Qishan county, Shaanxi province, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual
Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Washington D.C., 1990, p. 480, fig. 64.2.

The same inscription appears on a few other you of different form. See two examples: one of cylindrical
shape, excavated in 1998 from the tomb in Qianzhangda, Tengzhou, Shangdong province, now in Tengzhou
Museum, illustrated in Tengzhou Qianzhangda mudi / The tomb of Qianzhangda in Tengzhou, Beijing, 2005,
p. 283; another of a similar silhouette to the present piece, but with an additional spout, sold in our London
rooms, 14th March 1972, lot 8, and now in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated in Wang Tao, op.cit., pl. 31.

134 POWER / CONQUEST: THE FORGING OF EMPIRES