Ritual serving vessel with lid (fu) and dragons

Object Details

• Description

  Hsin-cheng type

  Ceremonial vessel, type "fu"

  Cover. Wood stand.

  Surface: a lustrous black or brown patina, almost completely covered with an aerugo of variable color, and grayish incrustations.

  Decoration: engraved.

• Provenance

  Imperial Household collection of Prince Kung of China, Beijing [1]

  To 1913

  Yamanaka & Company, to 1913 [2]

  From 1913 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased at the sale of the Prince Kung Collection (by order of Yamanaka and Company), American Art Association, New York February 27-28 and March 1, 1913 [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] The Imperial Household collection of Prince Kung was under the authority of Prince Kung Ching Wang (Yixin) (1833-1898), and, later, Prince Puwei (Prince Gongxian) (1880-1936), before Yamanaka and Company acquired it. See Illustrated Catalogue of the Remarkable Collection of the Imperial Prince Kung of China, A Wonderful Treasury of Celestial Art: recently acquired by the widely known firm of Yamanaka & Company (New York: American Art Association, 1913). See also, Original Bronze List, S.I. 390, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

  [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Prince Kung Ching Wang (1833-1898)

  Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 0s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Wang, Kung Ching, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Bronze, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Sculpture, Eastern Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 BCE), Chinese Art, Spring and Autumn period (770 - 476 BCE), Dragon, Metal-work

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)