Western Zhou dynasty ( 1046–771 BC ), 2nd half of 11th century BC
Artist:
China
About this artwork
The handled tureen is one of an extensive array of bronze vessels commissioned by China’s royal family and political aristocracy for the preparation and offering of millet and other food in ceremonial banquets. This vessel’s distinctive style, with its basin cast onto a hollow square base derived from an altar or stand, was introduced soon after the Zhou conquest of China’s first archaeologically verified dynasty, the Shang. Exuberantly imaginative creatures animate the surface. Two large, coiled dragons spread across each side of the bowl; animal-headed birds form the handles; and on the base, creatures with spiky, flame-like plumage display a clever ambiguity: they may be read as addorsed birds or as elephant-headed “dragons” facing each other.
Inside the bottom of the basin, an inscription of eleven characters is countersunk in the metal and runs from top to bottom in two columns reading right to left: Zhong Cheng zuo you bao yi yong xiang wang ni wei yong [“Zhong Cheng makes his treasured vessel, to use to feast the king’s reciprocal immortalizing.” (translation by Edward L. Shaughnessy)]. This brief text commemorates a celebratory event: the commission of this vessel to entertain the king by a court official or attendant named Zhong Cheng. The strongly rendered and well-balanced script incorporates a few pictographic characters, among which “feast” (left column, second character) depicts two figures kneeling face-to-face over a grain vessel.
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.
Inscription cast inside basin: Zhong Cheng made this precious vessel to entertain the King (when) abroad (and) at home.
Dimensions
At lip: Diam.: 22.2 cm (8 3/4 in.); H.: 27 cm (10 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection
Reference Number
1927.316
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Charles Fabens Kelley, “Bronze and Brass Ornamental Work,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th ed. (New York: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1932), vol. 4, pl. XIV–2.
Sueji Umehara, Shina kodō seikwa (Osaka: Yamanaka and Co., 1933), pt. 1, vol. 2, pl. 3.
Dagny Carter, China Magnificent (New York: John Day in association with Reynal and Hitchcock, 1935), 19.
Ludwig Bachhofer, “The Evolution of Shang and Early Chou Bronzes,” The Art Bulletin 26 (June 1944): fig. 26.
Ch’en Meng-chia, ed., Chinese Bronzes in Foreign Collections, 1st series (Peiping: National Library of Peiping, 1946), 64, pl. 18.
Charles Fabens Kelley and Ch’en Meng-chia, Chinese Bronzes from the Buckingham Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1946), 44–47, 150–151, pls. XX–XXII.
Matsumaru Michio, In Shu seidōki bunrui zuroku: A Corpus of Chinese Bronzes in American Collections (Tokyo: Kyoku Shuin, 1977), 41, 215/R.292, 497–498.
Robert J. Poor, “Two Recently Excavated Chinese Bronzes,” Oriental Art (Spring 1978): 70–78, fig. 8.
Jessica Rawson, “Animal Motifs on Early Western Zhou Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections,” Orientations 18, no. 9 (September 1987): 57, fig. 7.
Chicago Bijutsukan Meihenten: Masterpieces of Chinese Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka; also exhibited at MOA Museum of Art, Atami; Idemitsu Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1989), cat. 6.
Minao Hayashi, In Shu jidai seidōki no kenkyū [Conspectus of Yin and Zhou Bronzes], vol. 1, pt. 2 (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1984), 92.
Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections (Cambridge, MA: Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1990), 362–366, fig. 38.7.
Edward L. Shaughnessy, “The Beginnings of Writing in China,” in Visible Language: The Inventions of Writing in the Middle East and Beyond (Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2010), 221–222.
Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Baoji Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics and Tourism, and Shanghai Museum, Noble Life of the Zhou: Bronzes Unearthed from the Cemetery of the Western Zhou Aristocrats at Shigushan of Baoji (Shanghai: Shanghai Museum, 2014), 173, pl. 6.
Osaka, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Chicago Bijutsukan Meihinten: Masterpieces of Chinese Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago, 1989, cat. 6; Atami, MOA Museum of Art; Tokyo, Idemitsu Museum of Art.
Chicago, Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago, Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Middle East and Beyond, Sept. 28, 2010–Mar. 6, 2011.
Ton Ying and Company, New York; sold to Kate Sturges Buckingham (1858–1937), Chicago, [Kate served as executor of her sister Lucy Maud Buckingham’s estate and continued expanding Lucy’s collection following her death in 1920] Dec. 30, 1926; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Dec. 30, 1926.
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