Wine Vessel

Original Language TitleHu

CultureChinese

Date5th century B.C.E.

MediumBronze

DimensionsOverall: 17 × 10 inches (43.18 × 25.4 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number31-136/22

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionLarge bulbous body with a tapering neck. Lid is in the shape of an eagle's head with a hinged beak. U-shaped handle is hinged by two S-shaped arms, which are attached to the neck of the vessel. The lid is secured to the arms by two rings. Body of the vessel is plain, with rings attached to the back in the middle of the body.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Arts of the Han Dynasty, The Asia Society, New York, February 7- March 26, 1961.

Unearthing China's Past, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, November 15, 1973 - February 15, 1974.

Gallery Label

The design and casting of the spout, lid and handle show considerable ingenuity. The handle is hinged in two places, and the bird-beak spout is hinged to the rest of the lid. When the vessel is tilted using the ring at the rear, the vessel pivots around the upper handle, and the bird-beak spout opens automatically.

Provenance

With Celestin Liu, Peking (modern-day Beijing), China, by July 27, 1931 [1];

Purchased from Celestin Liu, through Langdon Warner (1881-1955), by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.

NOTES:

[1] "Kansas City - Itemized Purchases in China and Japan, 1932," no. A-55, Harvard Pusey Library, Langdon Warner Personal Archive, box 15, folder 28, copy in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.

Published References

Jung Keng, “The Bronzes of Shang and Chou,” vol. 2 (Peking: Yenching University, 1941), 378, fig. 713 (repro.).

“Ancient China,” Sekai Bijutsu Zenshu, 7, no. I (Tokyo: 1952), pl. 9 (repro.).

Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, vol. xiv (New York: 1960), 33, fig. 36 (repro.).

Arts of the Han Dynasty / Chinese Art Society of America, Asia House, New York, February-March, 1961, exh. cat. 36 (Kansas City, Missouri: Grimes-Joyce Print, 1961), 33, ill (repro.).

William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes (Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle, 1962), pl. 64 a (repro.).

Jan Fontein, Tung Wu, Unearthing China’s Past, exh. cat. 18 (Boston : Museum of Fine Arts ; Greenwich, Conn. : distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1973), 59 (repro.).

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