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Lot Essay
Colin Mackenzie in his article 'Adaptation and Invention: Chinese Bronzes of the Eastern Zhou and Han Periods', Chinese Bronzes: Selected Articles from Orientations 1983-2000, June 2000, pp. 159-168, notes that fu were originally inspired by bamboo prototypes, made to hold grain - perhaps rice.
Similar fu have been excavated in Central China, in the region of Henan and Anhui. A very similar example from Huangchuan in Henan province is illustrated in Historical Relics Unearthed in New China, Beijing, 1972, pl. 61; another from Xincheng, also in Henan, by W. Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 56a; and another with 20-character inscription was excavated at Gushi, Henan in 1978, illustrated in Chongguo meishu quanji; gongyi meishu bian; qingtongqi, Beijing, 1986, vol. 5 (Bronzes (2)), p. 24. Two others with similar 6-character inscription were excavated from the tomb of the Marquis of Cai in Shouxian, Anhui, which is datable to the early 5th century BC: one of them exhibited in Beijing, 1958, and illustrated in Wu sheng chutu zhongao wenwu zhanlan tulu, Beijing, 1958, pl. 44; the other included in the Exhibition of Archaeological Treasures Excavated in the People's Republic of China, Tokyo, 1973, no. 10.
Compare, also, three similar fu in Western collections, two of them illustrated by G.W. Weber, The Ornaments of the Late Zhou Bronzes, Rutgers University Press, 1973, pl. 2, from the Buckingham Collection in the Art Institute of Chicago, and pl. 3, from the Avery Brundage Collectin in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; the third illustrated in the Catalogue of the Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin, 1970, no. 7.
The development of this vessel form is illustrated in line drawings by Guo Baojun, A Comprehensive Study of the Shang and Zhou Bronze Vessel Group, Beijing, 1981, p. 139, fig. 34, where the present type represents the third of five stages and is attributed to the middle Spring and Autumn period. The shape is also discussed by Chen Zhenyu in an article on tombs of the Chu kingdom, Kaogu, 1981:4, p. 319, where a similar type attributed to the late Spring and Autumn period is illustrated in a line drawing, p. 321, fig. 1 (24).
Similar fu have been excavated in Central China, in the region of Henan and Anhui. A very similar example from Huangchuan in Henan province is illustrated in Historical Relics Unearthed in New China, Beijing, 1972, pl. 61; another from Xincheng, also in Henan, by W. Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 56a; and another with 20-character inscription was excavated at Gushi, Henan in 1978, illustrated in Chongguo meishu quanji; gongyi meishu bian; qingtongqi, Beijing, 1986, vol. 5 (Bronzes (2)), p. 24. Two others with similar 6-character inscription were excavated from the tomb of the Marquis of Cai in Shouxian, Anhui, which is datable to the early 5th century BC: one of them exhibited in Beijing, 1958, and illustrated in Wu sheng chutu zhongao wenwu zhanlan tulu, Beijing, 1958, pl. 44; the other included in the Exhibition of Archaeological Treasures Excavated in the People's Republic of China, Tokyo, 1973, no. 10.
Compare, also, three similar fu in Western collections, two of them illustrated by G.W. Weber, The Ornaments of the Late Zhou Bronzes, Rutgers University Press, 1973, pl. 2, from the Buckingham Collection in the Art Institute of Chicago, and pl. 3, from the Avery Brundage Collectin in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; the third illustrated in the Catalogue of the Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin, 1970, no. 7.
The development of this vessel form is illustrated in line drawings by Guo Baojun, A Comprehensive Study of the Shang and Zhou Bronze Vessel Group, Beijing, 1981, p. 139, fig. 34, where the present type represents the third of five stages and is attributed to the middle Spring and Autumn period. The shape is also discussed by Chen Zhenyu in an article on tombs of the Chu kingdom, Kaogu, 1981:4, p. 319, where a similar type attributed to the late Spring and Autumn period is illustrated in a line drawing, p. 321, fig. 1 (24).