Page 78 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

Xu 盨

The xu 盨, used to hold food and especially rice and other grains, is
an oblong vessel of rectangular shape, with a cover of similar shape.
Very close in form to a fu 簠, it differs by its round angles and a cover
that is clearly smaller in size than the vessel’s body, but which, when
turned upside-down, can also be used as a second receptacle on which
to display the food contained in the vessel.

The character xu 盨 appears in inscriptions on a number of such
vessels, but may have been considered a variant of a gui 簋 or a xugui
盨簋 since certain xu 盨 vessels contain inscriptions wherein the vessel
is thus named.

First appearing in the middle of the Western Zhou 西周中期 (circa 9
th
century B.C.), the xu 盨 disappears at the beginning of the Spring and
th
th
Autumn 春秋 period (circa 8 – 7 centuries B.C.).

th
Xu, late Western Zhou dynasty (circa 9 – 8 centuries B.C.)
th
Height: 20 cm, length: 34 cm – Meiyintang Collection n° 108.
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