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Grain Vessel (Gui)

A work made of bronze.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of bronze.

Date:

Late Shang/early Western Zhou dynasty, 11th century B.C.

Artist:

China

About this artwork

A monster mask (taotie) spreads boldly across this vessel, conforming to its bulging contour. While showing some stylistic features of slightly earlier manufacture, this vessel’s heavy handles and the spiny dragons beneath the mouth rim are characteristic of bronzes of the early Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1050-771 B.C.).

The cruciform emblem enclosing the top character of the inscription is read ya. This emblem is thought to bear some relation to family names, although its exact meaning remains problematic.

Status

On View, Gallery 131

Department

Arts of Asia

Title

Grain Vessel (Gui)

Place

China (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1100 BCE–1000 BCE

Medium

Bronze

Dimensions

17.5 × 23 cm (6 3/4 × 9 1/8 in.); Diam.: 23.2 cm (9 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection

Reference Number

1926.1827

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/32538/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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