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

Object Details

• Description

  Decorations cast in high and low relief, grey-green patination with patch of azurite blue inside body and occasional specks of light green. One-character inscription cast inside foot.

• Previous custodian or owner

  Wu Dacheng 吳大澂 (1835-1902)

  J.T. Tai & Co. (established in 1950)

• Provenance

  By 1896

  Possibly Wu Dacheng ??? (1835-1902), method of acquisition unknown [1]

  By 1951

  J. T. & Tai & Co., INC. New York, New York, method of acquisition unknown [1]

  From 1951

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from J. T. & Tai & Co., New York, New York. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See WU Dacheng ???, Kezhai ji gu lu: fu shi wen sheng gao ????? : ????? / ???? (Shanghai: Shang wu yin shu guan, 1930), vol 21, 6a. A rubbing of the

  object's inscription is included within the publication. The preface to the publication dates WU Dacheng's original text to 1896, suggesting that the vessel was in circulation before or by the time of publication.

  [2] See invoice,

  J. T. Tai & Company INC. to Freer Art Gallery, November 1, 1951, copy in object file. On the invoice, the object is identified as JTT 13 and described as " One bronze Ku (Shang Dyn.). H. 13". Weight 3-1/8 lbs."

  J. T. Tai ??? (1911-1992) was an art dealer who was initially based in Shanghai, China. In 1949, Tai fled with his family to Hong Kong when a communist regime came to power. In 1950, he immigrated to New York, where he established J. T. Tai & Company, a gallery that opened in the fall of 1950 and specialized in the sale of Chinese arts.

  Research Completed on March 17, 2022

• Origin

  Anyang, probably Henan province, China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• On View

  Sackler Gallery 23b: Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 1000s

• Name

  Wu, Dacheng, J.T. Tai & Co.

• Place

  China, Henan province, Anyang

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• On View

  Yes