Page 142 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

182. Ritual bronze wine vessel bu
Shang dynasty, Yinxu period, circa 13 - 11 centuries bc.
th
th
商代殷墟時期青銅瓿
Height: 17.6 cm, Diameter: 24.8 cm

A globular-shaped archaic bronze wine vessel bu Provenance:
supported by a ring foot. ▪ Gisèle Croës, Brussels, Belgium.
The vessel’s body is entirely covered with lozenge motifs, Exhibited:
each of which is filled with leiwen patterns and a bulbous ▪ Ritual Food Vessels in Early China, Selected Objects,
eye-like protrusion. The vessel’s sloping shoulder is International Asian Art Fair - New York, Gisèle Croës,
decorated with a frieze of nine large-eyed kui dragons 1999, catalogue p. 50 - 51.
shown in profile on a leiwein background. The foot of the
vessel is cast all round with a bordered frieze of spirals. Published:
▪ Croës G., Ritual Food Vessels in Early China, Selected
The bronze has a light green patina with areas of malachite Objects, Brussels 1999, p. 50 - 51.
incrustations.
Similar examples:
▪ A similar bu now in the Guimet Museum, Paris, is
published by Girard - Geslan M., Bronzes Archaïques
de Chine, Trésors du Musée Guimet, Paris 1995, p. 124
- 127.
▪ A quite similar bu, excavated between 1928 and 1938,
from royal tomb no. 1001, in the Shang royal cemetery
of Xibeigang near the village of Houjiazhuang, Henan
province, is illustrated by 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. 311 no. 16.

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