Ritual wine container (you) with masks (taotie), dragons, and cicadas

Object Details

• Description

  Ceremonial covered vessel, type you. Outside, fairly even patination in shades of gray-green with flecks of cuprite; inside, cuprite, azurite and malachite with areas of original metal; little incrustation; cast inscription of one character inside both cover and vessel.

• Inscriptions

  1. (From original folder sheet note 2) (J.E.L., 1941) This inscription appears both in the bottom of the vessel and in the cover. I know of at least one other bronze inscribed with this character: it is a [chn] square i of which photographs were sent to me by Karbeck (see his letter of Sept. 26th, 1939, and study file). This i is, however, very different in style from our [chn] yu, and its inscribed bird faces to the left instead of to the right. Of the two, Karbeck's may be the earlier; but both, I think, belong to the late Shang or early Chou period. A comparable yu has been published by Yetts (The Cull Chinese Bronzes, No. 3).

• Label

  This you is decorated with elaborate relief designs of taotie, as well as bands of design that draw attention to the container’s foot, body, neck collar, and lid. Four types of dragons enliven the vessel surface. Such fierce animals show a range of artistic imagination among designers at Anyang during the Bronze Age. A bird motif (left) inside the container and lid might represent a family or clan.

• Provenance

  Reportedly excavated in Anyang, Henan province, China [1]

  From 1939 to 1940

  C. T. Loo & Company, New York from September 26, 1939 [2]

  From 1940

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on July 10, 1940 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] According to undated curatorial remark, in object file.

  [2] See C. T. Loo's stockcard no. 86536: "Bronze Jar with cover, Shang," C. T. Loo & Frank Caro Archive, Musée Guimet, Paris, copy in object file. The object was brought to the Freer Gallery for examination on November 6, 1939.

  [3] See C. T. Loo's invoice, dated July 10, 1940, copy in object file. According to Loo's stockcard, the vessel was sold on July 15, 1940.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings (February 25, 2023 to April 28, 2024)

  Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes (November 20, 2010 to January 3, 2016)

  Chinese Art (February 18, 1983 to April 1, 1987)

  Chinese Art (March 15, 1982 to June 15, 1982)

  Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)

  Chinese Bronze, Jade, Marble (March 1, 1957 to January 1, 1963)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 14 and 15 (February 25, 1956 to March 1, 1957)

  Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Jade and Bronze (August 26, 1955 to October 25, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1955 (October 24, 1955 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1945 (January 9, 1945 to August 20, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1944 (December 13, 1944 to May 7, 1946)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Metalwork, 1943 (March 22, 1943 to December 13, 1944)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Metalwork (March 14, 1931 to March 22, 1943)

• Previous custodian or owner

  C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)

• Origin

  Anyang, probably Henan province, China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 1000s

• Name

  C.T. Loo & Company

• Place

  China, Henan province, Anyang

• Topic

  Bronze, Wine and wine making, Art, Sculpture, Chinese Art, Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300 - 1050 BCE), Taotie, Masks, Dragon, Metal-work

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)