Page 64 - March 17, 2020 Impotant Chinese Art, Sotheby's, New York

The present bronze vessel is cast with the deep U-shaped Although bronze gui of this type are known from the late
bowl supported on a tall foot and flanked by a pair of Shang to Western Zhou dynasty, the overall form of the
upturned loop handles. This particular form has been present bronze indicates a late Shang dynasty attribution.
identified by archaic bronze inscriptions as gui or yu. See, for Compare a smaller vessel of a very similar form, but with
example, a vessel of this type, cast to the interior with Zhong an unidentified fitting to the interior, attributed to the first
zuo bao gui (precious gui made by Zhong), published in Wu half of the Yinxu period, excavated at Xibeigang in Anyang,
Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng Henan province, included in the exhibition King Wu Ding
[Compendium of inscriptions and images of bronzes from and Lady Hao. Art and Culture of the Late Shang Dynasty,
the Shang and Zhou dynasties], vol. 8, Shanghai, 2012, no. National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2012, cat. no. III-4. Related
04127; and one from the Qing Court Collection, now in the Western Zhou dynasty examples are usually modeled with
Palace Museum, Beijing, inscribed with a fifteen-character a more compressed body and a spreading foot, such as one
inscription identifying it as a yu made by Bo, published in from the Qing Court Collection, now in the Palace Museum,
The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Beijing, illustrated in the Palace Museum, ed., Gugong
Bronze Ritual Vessels and Musical Instruments, Hong Kong, qingtongqi/ Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999,
2006, pl. 47. no. 116; and another published in Zhang Shengfu and Zhang
The differentiation between gui and yu of this type can Tunsheng, Shaanxi chutu shangzhou qingtongqi [Bronzes of
sometimes be challenging. A widely established method Shang and Zhou dynasties unearthed in Shaanxi Province],
of classification, which has been accepted by multiple vol. 2, Beijing, 1980, pl. 103.
contemporary scholars, appears to be based on the size of The present gui is cast to the interior with a single character
the vessels. Ma Chengyuan suggested in his book that small ge (dagger-axe), which is the name of an ancient clan mostly
vessels of this form are gui, and medium or large vessels active in the Shaanxi and Henan areas during the Shang
are yu (see Zhongguo qingtongqi/The Chinese Bronzes, to early Western Zhou period. Apart from appearing in
Shanghai, 2010, p. 151). Zhu Fenghan further noted in his bronze inscriptions, the ge name also occurs in oracle bone
book that bronze yu are usually large in size, averaging inscriptions, which indicates the prominent social status
over 40 cm in height and 55 cm in diameter (see Zhongguo of this clan during the Shang dynasty. Jessica Rawson also
qingtongqi zonglun/A Comprehensive Survey of Chinese noted the importance of this pictogram in her book Western
Bronzes, vol. 1, Shanghai, 2009, p. 307). Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections,
vol. IIB, Washington, D.C., 1990, p. 455. See several other
late Shang dynasty bronze gui with the ge pictogram, some
of which are now preserved in major museums, published in
Wu Zhenfeng, op. cit., vol. 7, nos 03515-03521.

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