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

The present he was formerly in the collection of Liu Tizhi (1879-1962) and was published in Liu’s catalogues, Shanzhai jijin lu (The Records of Archaic Bronzes in the Shanzhai Studio), and Xiaojiaojingge jinwen taben (Rubbings of Archaic Bronze Inscriptions in the Xiaojiaojingge Studio). Liu Tizhi, literary name Huizhi and Shanzhai Laoren (elder man in the Shanzhai studio), was a native of Lujiang, Anhui province. His father, Liu Bingzhang (1826-1905), was the governor of Sichuan province in the late Qing dynasty, and his father-in-law, Sun Jianai (1827-1909), was a grand secretary and a mentor to the Guangxu Emperor. Liu Tizhi’s collection ranged widely from oracle bones to archaic bronzes to rare books. This he subsequently entered the collection of Rong Geng (1894-1983), who commented in his Shangzhou yiqi tongkao (A General Study of Archaic Bronzes in the Yin and Zhou Dynasties) that “Liu Tizhi has the biggest collection of bronzes among all Chinese collectors in the recent years.” Rong Geng was a native of Dongguan city, Guangdong province, and trained under the famed late Qing-dynasty Epigraphy scholar Luo Zhenyu (1866-1940), and received his graduate degree in Sinology from Peking University. Rong then taught ancient Chinese and archeology at the University while serving as a researcher at the Palace Museum in Beijing. Rong has published dozens of instrumental books, which became the foundation of the studies in ancient Chinese text and material in modern China.

The clan name of Rong is recorded in Chinese historical documents, such as Shangshu: Zhouguan (Book of Documents: official system of the Zhou dynasty), probably compiled in 5th century BC, and Sima Qian's (b. 145 BC) Shiji: Zhou Benji (Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of Zhou). Rong clan thrived during the Zhou period and was one of the vassal states of the Zhou. The clan shares the same family name 'Ji' of the Zhou royal court.

This bronze he compares closely with another one illustrated by Wu Zhenfeng in Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng (A Collection of Inscriptions and Images of Shang and Zhou Archaic Bronzes), Shanghai, 2012, vol. 26, p. 118, no. 14707, which shares both a similar shape and the same inscription. The same inscription cast on the interior of the present vessel and cover can also be found in a rubbing of a he in an album of rubbings entitled Lent Diet and Sacrificial Vessel Drawing, Supplement to Xiqing Sacrificial Vessel by Rong Geng (1894-1988) in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.