Ritual wine cup (gu) with masks (taotie), snakes, and cicadas

Object Details

• Description

  Ceremonial vessel, type gu. Light green patina with patches of silvery grey inside and out. Design filled with a reddish pigment. Incrustations of cuprite and native copper inside and out, particularly in the two-character inscription inside the foot.

• Inscriptions

  Inscribed in the foot, She Che 涉車 ("She-Chariot Officer")

• Provenance

  From 1941 to 1943

  C. T. Loo & Company, New York from November 1941 [1]

  From 1943

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on September 14, 1943 [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See C. T. Loo's stockcard no. 87475: "Bronze Ku 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 March 20, 1942.

  [2] See C. T. Loo's invoice, dated September 14, 1943, copy in object file.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

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

  Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  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)

• 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

  Usage Conditions Apply

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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, Art, Sculpture, Chinese Art, Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300 - 1050 BCE), Shang dynasty (ca. 1600 - ca. 1050 BCE), Metal-work

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)