Page 121 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

175. Ritual bronze wine vessel owl-shaped you
Shang dynasty, Yinxu period, circa 13 - 11 centuries bc.
th
th
商代殷墟時期鶚形青銅卣
Height: 14.8 cm

Rare archaic bronze vessel cast in the shape of two owls Inscription:
joined back to back. The body of the vessel is in the shape ▪ An identical inscription composed of a clan mark and
of the birds’ bodies with well-shaped wings and four two characters and cast both inside the vessel and its
thick legs supporting the vessel. The cover, with a small cover reads: “X Ancestor Xin”《X 且(祖)辛》.
mushroom-like knob in its centre, is cast in the form of the
two owls’ heads, with bulging eyes, thick, curly eyebrows, Provenance:
and powerful beaks in high relief. The vessel’s moveable ▪ Private Collection, Japan.
handle is modeled in the shape of a thick, twisted rope ▪ Kochukyo, Tokyo, Japan.
and is attached to rings cast onto the sides of the vessel ▪ Eskenazi, London, U.K.
just below the cover.
Exhibited:
The vessel has a dark metallic patina covered with areas ▪ Trésors de la Chine ancienne, Bronzes Rituels De La
of green and blue. Collection Meiyintang, Musée des arts asiatiques
Guimet, Paris 13 mars - 10 juin 2013, catalogue no. 49.

Published:
▪ Umehara S., Nihon Shucho Shina Kodo Seika, Selected
Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections
in Japan, Osaka, Yamanaka & Co., 1959, Volume 1,
plate XL. 梅原末治《日本蒐儲支那古銅精華》日本山
中商會, 大阪 1959 年版, 第1冊, 圖XL.
▪ Mizuno S., In Shu Seidoki to Gyoku (Bronzes and
Jades from Yin and Zhou Dynasties), Tokyo 1959,
p. 30 and inscription fig 70f. 水野清一《殷周青銅器と
玉》東京 1959年版, 第30頁; 銘文: 圖70f.
▪ Guimet, Musée des arts asiatiques, Trésors de la
Chine ancienne, Bronzes Rituels De La Collection
Meiyintang, Paris 2013, p. 82 - 83, no. 49.
Similar examples:
▪ Three similar vessels in the shape of two joined owls
are illustrated in Hayashi M., In Shu Jidai Seidoki no
Kenkyu (In Shu Seidoki Soran Ichi), Conspectus of Yin
and Zhou Bronzes, Tokyo 1984, Vol. I - Plates, p. 287,
nos. 6 to 8.

Notes:
▪ Vessels in the shape of two owls shown back to back
are quite rare. Hayashi M. in In Shu Jidai Seidoki no
Kenkyu (In Shu Seidoki Soran Ichi), Conspectus of Yin
and Zhou Bronzes, Tokyo 1984, Vol. I - Plates, p. 287,
records only ten vessels of this type.
▪ A cylindrical you with an identical three-part
inscription is recorded by Wu Zhenfeng, Shang Zhou
Qingtongqi, Mingwen Ji Tuxiang Jicheng, Shanghai
2012, vol. 23, p; 277, no. 12841.

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