EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC

Details

AN UNUSUAL SMALL BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND COVER, YOU
EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC
The plain, broad pear-shaped body of circular section is raised on a spreading foot pierced with four slits, each positioned below one of the V-shaped loops that project from between bow-string borders on the shoulder. The cover has slightly waisted sides and a domed top surmounted by a knob decorated on the sides with upright petals and on top with stepped circles. A two-character inscription, li vessel, is cast in the bottom of the you and inside the cover. The smooth surface is of dark grey color mottled in milky green.
6 ¾ in. (17.1 cm.) high

Provenance

Collection of Liu E (1857-1909).
J. T. Tai & Company, New York, 17 October 1967.
Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987) Collections.
Else Sackler (1913-2000) Collection, and thence by descent within the family.

Literature

Luo Zhenyu, Zhensongtang jigu yiwen (Gathering of Ancient Writings at the Zhensongtang Studio), 1930, vol. 8, p. 5 (inscription only).
Liu Chenggan, Xigulou jinshi cuibian (Selected Bronzes and Stelea Inscriptions at the Xigulou Studio), 1933, vol. 5, p. 8.
Liu Tizhi, Xiaojiaojinge jinwen taben (Rubbings of Archaic Bronze Inscriptions at the Xiaojiaojingge Studio), 1935, vol. 4, p. 13 (inscription only).
Luo Zhenyu, Sandai jijin wencun (Surviving Writings from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties), 1937, vol. 12, p. 45 (inscription only).
Noel Barnard and Cheung Kwong-Yue, Rubbings and Hand Copies of Bronze Inscriptions in Chinese, Japanese, European, American, and Australasian Collections, Taipei, 1978, no. 964 (inscription only).
Yan Yiping, Jinwen Zongji (Corpus of Bronze Inscriptions), Taipei, 1983, nos. 5093 and 6394 (inscription only).
Minao Hayashi, In Shu jidai seidoki no kenkyu (Conspectus of Yin and Zhou Bronzes), vol. 1 (plates), Tokyo, 1984, you no. 167.
Yinzhou jinwen jicheng (Compendium of Yin and Zhou Bronze Inscriptions), The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, 1984, no. 4888 (inscription only).
J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington D.C., 1990, pp. 486-7, no. 66.
Wang Xiantang, Guoshi jinshi zhigao (A Record of Bronze and Stone Inscriptions in Chinese History), Qingdao, 2004, no. 281 (inscription on the cover only).
Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng (Compendium of Inscriptions and Images of Bronzes from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties), Shanghai, 2012, vol. 23, p. 190, no. 12740.

Lot Essay

This you is unusual not only in its small size and round cross-section, rather than the more usual elliptical cross-section of most you, but also in the use of four V-shaped loops and the corresponding slits in the foot, suggesting that the cover was secured and carried by the use of straps, rather than the swing handle normally seen on you of late Shang or Western Zhou date. In Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Rawson compares the shape of this you to ceramic examples, including one from Anyang illustrated p. 487, fig. 66.1, which also has "pointed lugs." Rawson also notes, p. 496, that " a sequence of development from short, rounded Shang you to taller early Zhou you is established by a series of highly finished vessels that can be dated by their inscriptions."

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