Page 86 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

Yu 盂

This vessel comes in two main types, a smaller, usually handleless vessel
with long, straight sides that slope inwards as they descend. Hayashi
calls this the ‘small yu 盂’ (See photo on page 20). The second, larger
type of yu 盂 with its deep-bowl-like body, also with long, straight
sides, has two handles that jut straight out, one from each side of the
vessel, before turning upwards towards the vessel’s upper rim. Hayashi
calls this type of yu盂: the ‘large yu 盂’.（See Hayashi M., 林巳奈夫, In
Shu Jidai Seidoki no Kenkyu (In Shu Seidoki Soran Ichi) 殷周時代青
銅器の研究: 殷周青銅器綜覧 (一) 圖版), Conspectus of Yin and Zhou
Bronzes, Tokyo 1984, Vol. I, p. 24 – 25).

Thus, the yu 盂, whether ‘small’ or ‘large’, differs primarily from the gui
簋 by the straightness of its sides as opposed to the convex body of the
gui 簋, and by the wideness of its mouth and the thickness of its rim,
which often extends outwards from the body of the vessel like an eave.

In the classical texts, the yu 盂 is described as a vessel used to hold
water for ‘ablutions’ or ‘washings’. But according to other texts, the yu
盂 was used to hold ice to keep foodstuffs fresh during the summer.
Certain scholars consider the yu 盂 to be the predecessor of the large,
deep-basin-like vessel jian 鑒 (See pages 57-58).

Of a very large size during the Erligang 二里崗 period (circa 17 /16 –
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14 centuries B.C.), the yu 盂 becomes more medium-sized during the
second part of the Shang 商 dynasty and the beginning of the Western
Zhou 西周. By the end of the Western Zhou 西周, the yu 盂 sometimes
attains to ten times the holding capacity of a gui 簋. This type of vessel
disappears from the repertoire of Chinese bronze vessels during the
Spring and Autumn 春秋 period (circa 770 – 476 B.C.).

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You, early Western Zhou dynasty (circa 11 – 10 centuries B.C.)
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Height including the handle: 31.5 cm – Meiyintang Collection n° 187.
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