Page 145 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

183. Ritual bronze vessel hu with a cover in the shape of a duck’s head
Late Shang dynasty, Yinxu period, circa 13th - 11 centuries bc.
th
商代殷墟時期青銅壺
Height with handle: 40 cm

An exceptionally rare ritual hu-shaped vase. The vessel Provenance:
has a large, bulbous body supported by a wide, slightly ▪ Private European Collection.
rounded foot, a long neck, and an elaborate, omega- ▪ Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, France.
shaped handle terminating at each of its ends in high
relief animal heads. A high, flanged band around the Exhibited:
lower part of the vessel’s neck is decorated with two large- ▪ Treasures from Ancient China - II, Asia Week / New
headed taotie masks with round, protruding eyes, on a York, Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris 2010, catalogue
crisply cast leiwen background. p. 6 - 9.

The lid of the vessel is cast in the shape of a duck’s head, Published:
with its moveable hinged upper beak protruding over the ▪ Deydier Ch., Treasures from Ancient China - II, Asia
vessel’s front edge to cover the lower half of the duck’s Week / New York, Paris 2010, p. 6 - 9.
beak which emerges from the upper rim of the vessel’s
body. A ring tab cast to the right side of the duck’s head Similar examples:
on the cover and another cast on the inside of the vessel’s ▪ Hu vases decorated with covers in the shape of birds’
handle originally secured a now-missing chain link. heads are extremely rare, the present example being
the only known such piece dating to the Shang dynasty.
Bronze with green and red patina.
▪ A similar example, but from the Warring States period
and now in the Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City,
is 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. 146,
no. 2.
▪ Another example, from the Warring States period and
formerly conserved in the Neiraku Museum, Kobe,
is 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. 146,
th
no. 1 and in Christie’s, New York, March 25 , 1998,
no. 63.
▪ A third vase, also dating to the Warring States period
and discovered in Shandong, is 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. 146, no. 3, and in
Historical Relics Unearthed in New China, Beijing
Foreign Language Press, 1972, no. 75.
▪ A fourth example, also from the Warring States period,
is now in the Sakamoto Collection, Japan, and is
illustrated in Sotheby’s, London, December 12 , 1989,
th
no. 19.
▪ A fifth similarly dated example is illustrated in
st
Sotheby’s, New York, September 21 , 2006, no. 157.
Note:
▪ The only other known Shang bronze with a bird’s
head is a lei vase illustrated in Christie’s, New York,
September 21 , 2004, no. 146.
st

144