Page 94 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

168. Ritual bronze wine vessel you
Shang dynasty, Erligang period, circa 16 - 14 centuries bc.
th
th
商代二里岡時期青銅卣
Height: 24.8cm, Height including the handle: 33.5 cm

A covered ritual bronze wine vessel you, cast with a large, Provenance:
broad body topped by a concave shoulder and a long neck, ▪ Private Collection, Japan.
and supported on a high ring foot. The vessel’s high, arch- ▪ Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, France.
like, moveable handle is cast in the form of a thick rope of
intertwined strands and is fixed at the base of the vessel’s Exhibited:
neck to two half-ring handles. ▪ Trésors de la Chine ancienne, Bronzes Rituels De La
Collection Meiyintang, Musée des arts asiatiques
The upper part of the vessel’s neck is decorated with three Guimet, Paris 13 mars - 10 juin 2013, catalogue no. 18.
lines in low relief, while the vessel’s concave shoulder
is decorated with a frieze of stylized kui dragons with Published:
protuberant rectangular eyes, shown in profile. ▪ Guimet, Musée des arts asiatiques, Trésors de la
Chine ancienne, Bronzes Rituels De La Collection
Each side of the vessel’s body is decorated with a pair Meiyintang, Paris 2013, p. 39, no. 18.
of confronting kui dragons with large, protuberant,
rectangular eyes, shown in profile and merging into Similar examples:
each other over a slightly protruding vertical flange to ▪ A similar vessel is recorded in Hayashi M., In Shu
form a large taotie mask. This central band of decoration Jidai Seidoki no Kenkyu (In Shu Seidoki Soran Ichi),
is bordered above and below by narrow bands of small Conspectus of Yin and Zhou Bronzes, Tokyo 1984,
circular patterns. Vol. I - Plates, p. 256, no. 1.
▪ A quite similar you vessel excavated in 1974 in Lijiazui,
The bronze has an olive green patina. Panlongcheng, Hubei province is illustrated by Deydier
Ch., Les Bronzes Archaïques Chinois - Archaic Chinese
Bronzes - I - Xia & Shang, Paris 1995, p. 59, no. 2, and
in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji, Vol. 1 - Xia - Shang,
Beijing 1996, p. 136, no. 137.
▪ Another early you excavated in 1977, at Pinggu Xian,
Beijing, is published in Wenwu 1977, Issue no. 11, p. 5,
fig. 6:1, and in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji, Vol. 1 -
Xia - Shang, Beijing 1996, p. 137, no. 138.

Note:
▪ Most scholars call this type of vessel a you, but Ma
Chengyuan considers it to be a hu.

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