Page 166 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

187. Ritual bronze wine vessel you
Early Western Zhou dynasty, circa 11 - 10 centuries bc.
th
th
西周早期青銅卣
Height: 26.5 cm, Height including the handle: 31.5 cm, Diameter: 13 cm

Very rare, cylindrically shaped ritual bronze vessel Provenance :
you. Each side of the vessel’s high, round body is cast ▪ Private Collection, Japan.
with a very large and powerful taotie mask with large, ▪ Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, France.
protruding, rectangular eyes, large C-shaped horns, small
leaf-shaped ears, strong upper jaws, a long sharp nose Similar examples:
with deeply incised nostrils and a long, sharply pointed ▪ You vessels of cylindrical shape are extremely rare;
chin, all in high relief. A small animal’s head cast in only seven pieces have been recorded to date:
high relief protrudes from the centre of the taotie mask’s ▪ A similar you excavated from tomb no. 13 in Baoji in
forehead between its massive C-shaped horns just over the 1980 is published in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji,
top of the vertical flange that protrudes from the centre Vol.6 - Xi Zhou, Beijing 1997, no. 176.
of the beast’s long face. The vessel’s domed cover, topped ▪ Two other cylindrical you, excavated in Baicao,
by a central knob rising outwards towards its rim, is cast near Lingtai, Gansu Province, in 1967 and in 1972
with two shorter taotie masks with large, protruding, respectively, are illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi
rectangular eyes, wide upper jaws and a broad, pug nose, Quanji, Vol.6 - Xi Zhou, Beijing 1997, nos. 192 and 193.
all in high relief.
▪ Another cylindrical you, now in the Shanghai Museum,
is published in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji, Vol.6 -
A long arch-shaped handle emerges from the two powerful
animals’ heads with long, pointed horns that are secured Xi Zhou, Beijing 1997, no. 190.
to half-ring handles attached to the sides of the vessel. ▪ Another such piece, from the Freer Gallery of Art in
Washington, is illustrated by Pope J.A., The Freer
The vessel has a maroon patina with areas of green Chinese Bronzes, Volume I, Washington, 1967, no. 53,
incrustations. p. 298 - 303.
▪ Another cylindrical you, from the Idemitsu Museum,
Japan, is published in Ancient Chinese Arts in the
Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo 1989, no. 74.
▪ The seventh cylindrical you so far recorded, from the
Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum, Japan, is illustrated in
Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum, Japan, catalogue no. 20.

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