A gray-green bronze vessel with a lid and a middle handle on top of it. It is smaller at the top and wider at the bottom with a thick foot. It is inscribed with detailed, swirling designs all over.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A gray-green bronze vessel that stands upright on a grey background. It has a round lid and a middle handle that curves upright over it. The handle edges face diagonally to the viewer’s right and back to the left. It is smaller at the top and curves wider at the bottom with a thick foot that goes straight down. The entire piece is inscribed with detailed, swirling designs, some inscriptions are wide swirls with many tiny spirals in between them. The sides perpendicular to the handle have a protruding thin, straight piece that goes along to the top and over the lid. The lid has two curving points that reach up and out and a raised, curved knob at the very top.

Gallery Text

A highly religious and ritualistic society, the Shang established their dynastic kingdom in northern China around 1600 BCE. Their king served as the intermediary between his subjects, a powerful god known as Shang Di, and deceased ancestors that the Shang believed could intercede on their behalf. The extraordinary emphasis placed on ancestor worship and state ritual during the Shang dynasty necessitated the production of massive numbers of bronze vessels and ceremonial weapons. Specific types of bronze vessels for cooking, warming, or serving sacrificial offerings of food and wine were required for ceremonies designed to feed and appease ancestral spirits. Like their ceramic prototypes, bronze legged vessels could be placed over a fire for heating. Covered vessels protected their contents from spills or contamination. Ceremonial weaponry, such as the jade blades with turquoise-inlaid bronze hafts displayed here, were an important part of state regalia, as Shang rulers owed their domination over neighboring societies to their military prowess. Ritual bronzes and weapons were essential burial objects, for they represented the power and authority that the deceased intended to take with him into the afterlife.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.52.89
Title
'You' Covered Ritual Wine Vessel with 'Taotie' Decor
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
14th-11th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Shang dynasty, c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204303

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1740, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Cast bronze with gray-green patina; with an inscription cast on both the vessel floor and lid interior
Dimensions
H. with handle 21.9 x W. 14.6 x D. 12.7 cm (8 5/8 x 5 3/4 x 5 in.)
Weight 1791.69 g
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: three ideographs integrally cast on both vessel floor and lid interior

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (by 1943), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.52.89
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Chen Mengjia, Yin Zhou qingtongqi fenlei tulu (A corpus of Chinese bronzes in American Collections), Kyuko Shoin (Tokyo, Japan, 1977), A 585

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: S228-230 Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/31/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 1740 Early China I, 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