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Lot Essay
The inscription is composed of two elements that denote a person's name, "Jia". The same inscription is found on a you first published by Wu Dacheng, Kezhai jigu lu, 1918, nos. 18 and 21, and is also described by Sun Zhichu, Jinwen zhulu jianmu, Beijing, 1981, no. 4630.
This elegant gong is unusual for its small size and the flat-casting of the decoration, which is arranged in three registers and compartmentalized by flanges. During the Shang dynasty gong appear to have been of two types, those where the decoration is arranged in a manner similar to the present vessel, and those where the decoration forms a bold allover pattern on the body. A gong and cover in the Pillsbury Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which is also of the first type, and like the present vessel has flat-cast decoration, is illustrated by R. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, p. 414, fig. 73.1. Bagley also illustrates a gong in the Winthrop Collection, Fogg Art Museum, p. 414, fig. 73.2, which is of the second type, with allover decoration, while two others in the Philip Sandblom Collection and the Norton Gallery of Art, which are illustrated p. 415, figs. 73.3 and 73.4, appear to be a combination of the two types, as the decoration is primarily arranged in registers and divided by flanges, but has one element that continues downwards from the decoration on the cover and spans the registers on the neck and body. Like the present gong the foot on these latter vessels also has the arched opening on either side.
This elegant gong is unusual for its small size and the flat-casting of the decoration, which is arranged in three registers and compartmentalized by flanges. During the Shang dynasty gong appear to have been of two types, those where the decoration is arranged in a manner similar to the present vessel, and those where the decoration forms a bold allover pattern on the body. A gong and cover in the Pillsbury Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which is also of the first type, and like the present vessel has flat-cast decoration, is illustrated by R. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, p. 414, fig. 73.1. Bagley also illustrates a gong in the Winthrop Collection, Fogg Art Museum, p. 414, fig. 73.2, which is of the second type, with allover decoration, while two others in the Philip Sandblom Collection and the Norton Gallery of Art, which are illustrated p. 415, figs. 73.3 and 73.4, appear to be a combination of the two types, as the decoration is primarily arranged in registers and divided by flanges, but has one element that continues downwards from the decoration on the cover and spans the registers on the neck and body. Like the present gong the foot on these latter vessels also has the arched opening on either side.