Ritual wine cup (zhi) with birds

Object Details

• Description

  Ceremonial vessel of the type "chih."

  Surface: green patina and brownish earth incrustation.

  Decoration: in low relief and engraved. Inscription of eight characters inside bottom.

• Inscriptions

  8-character inscription.

• Provenance

  To 1919

  Tonying and Company, New York to 1919 [1]

  1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Tonying and Company, New York in 1919 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Bronze List, S.I. 1387, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. By at least 1917, Tonying and Company maintained business locations in Shanghai, Beijing, Paris, London, and New York, NY.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] 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

  Tonying and Company 通運公司 (established 1902) (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, Tonying and Company

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Bronze, Wine and wine making, Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050 - 771 BCE), Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Animals, Inscriptions, Sculpture, Chinese Art, Birds, Metal-work

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)