MIDDLE WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, CIRCA 9TH CENTURY BC

This magnificent vessel is very similar to a hu and cover of approximately the same size (53.7 cm. high) dated to the end of the middle Western Zhou dynasty, 9th century BC, illustrated by S. D. Owyoung, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, 1997, p. 128, no. 36. Other similar large hu have been excavated at sites of middle Western Zhou date in Shaanxi province. See, for example, the slightly larger (60 cm. high) hu and cover excavated in 1960 in Qijia Village, Fufeng county, Shaanxi province, and now in the Shaanxi Museum of History, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 5 - Xi Zhou (1), Beijing, 1996, p. 131, fig. 138. Also illustrated, p. 136, fig. 144, is another example of larger size (65.4 cm. high) excavated in 1976 in Zhuangbai Village, Fufeng county, Shaanxi province, and now in the Zhouyuan Musuem.