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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1944.57.12
Title
'Gui' Ritual Food Vessel with Attached Stand, Bovine-Head Handles, and 'Taotie' Decor
Other Titles
Alternate Title: 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/203947

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Cast bronze; with dedicatory inscription cast on vessel floor
Dimensions
H. to top of handle 27.5 cm x W. across handles 33.5 cm x D. 21.9 cm (10 13/16 x 13 3/16 x 8 5/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: ten-character dedicatory inscription integrally cast on vessel floor: Wang Yi De Bei Ershi Peng Yong Zuo Bao Zun Yi (translation: "The King gave De twenty sets of shells; thereupon the 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
1944.57.12
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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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. 48, no. 29
  • Max Loehr, Chinese Art: Symbols and Images, exh. cat., Jewett Arts Center (Wellesley, 1967), pp. 13-15, no. 5
  • Chen Mengjia, Yin Zhou qingtongqi fenlei tulu (A corpus of Chinese bronzes in American Collections), Kyuko Shoin (Tokyo, Japan, 1977), A 220
  • Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections (Volume IIB), Arthur M. Sackler Foundation and Arthur M. Sackler Museum (Washington, D.C. and Cambridge, Mass., 1990), p. 354, fig. 36.1

Exhibition History

  • S427: Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/20/1985 - 04/30/2008
  • 32Q: 1600 Early China II, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/19/2017 - 07/17/2018

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