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Lot Essay
The clan sign cast inside this vessel depicts a figure carrying a string of cowrie shells while standing in a boat. In traditional literature, this clan sign was translated as 'zi he bei (son bearing cowrie)'. More recently, most scholars translate it as peng zhou (literally 'string of cowrie shells' and 'boat'), however, other scholars translate it as ying zhou (literally 'infant' and 'boat'). The same clan sign can be found on a ding vessel from the Sackler Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 17 March 2017, lot 1006, and on other bronzes which are listed by R. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D. C., 1987, p. 459.
The previous owner of this zhi, Yu Xingwu (1896-1984), was a pre-eminent epigraphist, scholar of ancient artefacts, and collector. Yu Xingwu, whose hall name is Shuangjianchi Zhuren (master of Shuangjianchi Studio), taught epigraphy and ancient artefacts at Fu Jen Catholic University and later at Peking University during the Republic period. He became a professor at Jilin University in 1955. As a scholar-collector, Yu Xingwu focused on pieces with academic significance and was very cautious in their authentication. For him, collecting was not merely a leisurely activity, but a scholarly pursuit in dating, naming artefacts, and interpreting inscriptions.
An almost identical bronze zhi, with a Shi clan sign, in the Shanghai Museum, is included in the exhibition catalogue by Wang Tao, Mirroring China’s Past: Emperors, Scholars, and Their Bronzes, Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, 2018, p. 64, no. 32.
The previous owner of this zhi, Yu Xingwu (1896-1984), was a pre-eminent epigraphist, scholar of ancient artefacts, and collector. Yu Xingwu, whose hall name is Shuangjianchi Zhuren (master of Shuangjianchi Studio), taught epigraphy and ancient artefacts at Fu Jen Catholic University and later at Peking University during the Republic period. He became a professor at Jilin University in 1955. As a scholar-collector, Yu Xingwu focused on pieces with academic significance and was very cautious in their authentication. For him, collecting was not merely a leisurely activity, but a scholarly pursuit in dating, naming artefacts, and interpreting inscriptions.
An almost identical bronze zhi, with a Shi clan sign, in the Shanghai Museum, is included in the exhibition catalogue by Wang Tao, Mirroring China’s Past: Emperors, Scholars, and Their Bronzes, Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, 2018, p. 64, no. 32.