A RARE BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, YU

SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG, 13TH-12TH CENTURY BC

Details

A RARE BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, YU
SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG, 13TH-12TH CENTURY BC
The deep bowl finely cast with a wide band of diamond and boss pattern below a border comprised of three animal masks separating panels of eyes centering elongated abstract dragon scroll, the masks positioned above taotie masks on the foot, all reserved on leiwen grounds filled with cinnabar, with milky pea-green patina
9 in. (23 cm.) diam., box

Provenance

The Mount Trust Collection.
Christie's, London, 19 April 1983, lot 45.
T.Y. King & Sons Ltd., Hong Kong, 18 July 1983.

Literature

Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, 1962, no. 4b and p. 73, fig. 6.7.
Hayashi, In Shu jidai seidoki soran ichi, 1984, vol. 2, pl. 137, no. 7.
Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1987, fig. 96.6.

Exhibited

The Mount Trust Collection of Chinese Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1970, no. 2.
Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1990, no. 24.
The Glorious Traditions of Chinese Bronzes, Singapore, 2000, no. 9.
Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2002-2006.

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Lot Essay

Yu were popular during the Anyang phase of the Shang dynasty, but disappeared in the early Western Zhou, to be replaced by the handled gui. The combination of shape and the diamond and boss decoration of the present yu appears to have been particularly popular in Shaanxi province during the Shang period, as seen in several excavated examples illustrated by R. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, pp. 504-7, no. 98, figs. 98.3-5 and pp. 510-14, nos. 100 and 101, figs. 100.1-3 and 101.1-2. These excavated vessels exhibit some variations in the shape, the types of bosses and the narrow decorative bands.

An almost identical yu from the Karlbeck Collection is illustrated by B. Karlgren, "Marginalia on Some Bronze Albums", BMFEA 31, 1959, pp. 289-331, pl. 12a. Karlgren also illustrates a yu with similar boss and diamond band on the body, and similar taotie band on the foot, but a different band below the rim, in "Bronzes in the Hellström Collection", BMFEA 20, 1948, pl. 57:2, and notes, p. 35, that it is from Anyang.

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