Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
A mottled grey cast bronze cup with a thick, cube-shaped bottom and two decorated large, semi-circle handles. The handles have a protruding form on top and bottom of them. The outside of the cup is decorated with a swirling pattern of thick and fine lines.

A mottled grey cast bronze cup with a thick, cube-shaped bottom stands on a faded grey background. It has finely-decorated large, semi-circle handles on the left and right. The handles have a protruding form on top and bottom of them, the top forms being animalistic and the bottom being a rectangle pointing down. The outside of the cup is decorated with a swirling pattern of thick and fine lines. There is a protruding line along the vertical center of the cup. The cube-shaped foot is decorated with two large swirls facing away from each other and some smaller decorations. There is some green discoloration throughout.

Gallery Text

Like their Shang predecessors, the Zhou produced sets of bronze ritual vessels for use in state rites and burial in tombs. In style, form, and function, the earliest bronze vessels from the Western Zhou period were virtually indistinguishable from those made by the Shang, for the Zhou sought to legitimize their ascension over their defeated rivals by closely replicating the tangible symbols of Shang power. Before long, however, traditional Shang decorative motifs such as the taotie animal mask began to evolve, and new forms emerged, such as the confronting dragons on the inscribed gui food vessel (far right) or the elephants on the covered you wine vessel (near left) displayed here. Inscriptions on these objects expanded, from single clan marks to longer memorializing inscriptions, signaling a shift in the function of bronze vessels from purely sacred objects belonging to powerful Shang clan members, to status symbols commemorating the accomplishments of Zhou kings and nobles.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1944.57.1
Title
'Gui' Ritual Food Vessel with Attached Stand, Bovine-Head Handles, and with Confronting-Dragon Decor
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Shu De gui
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
early Western Zhou period, mid 11th-early 10th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Zhou dynasty, Western Zhou period, c. 1050-771 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/203788

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1600, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Bronze Age to the Golden Age
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Cast bronze with gray-green patina; with dedicatory inscription cast on vessel floor
Dimensions
H. 25.4 x W. 30.6 x D. 21.3 cm (10 x 12 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: seventeen-character dedicatory inscription integrally cast on vessel floor: Wang Yi Shu De Chen (?) Shi Ren Bei Shi Peng Yang Bai Yong Zuo Bao Zun Yi (translation: The King bestowed upon Uncle De ten female (?) slaves, ten strings of shells, and one hundred sheep, thereupon this precious sacrificial vessel was made)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Private Collection (by 1944), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1944.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Anonymous gift
Accession Year
1944
Object Number
1944.57.1
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

  • Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Buddhist Art Dating from Shang Dynasty 1766 B.C. to Yuan Dynasty A.D. 1367, auct. cat., Yamanaka & Co. (New York, NY, October 1938), p. 47, no. 28
  • Chen Mengjia, Yin Zhou qingtongqi fenlei tulu (A corpus of Chinese bronzes in American Collections), Kyuko Shoin (Tokyo, Japan, 1977), A 219

Exhibition History

  • S427: Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/20/1985 - 04/30/2008
  • Re-View: S228-230 Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/31/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 1600 Early China II, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu