A rare archaic bronze ritual food vessel (Gui), Late Shang dynasty | 商末 戈簋

Private Collection.

Sotheby's London, 16th May 1967, lot 38.

J.T. Tai, New York.

Collection of Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987).

Collection of Else Sackler (1913-2000).

Collection of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation.

Christie's New York, 14th September 2017, lot 904.

來源

私人收藏

倫敦蘇富比1967年5月16日，編號38

戴潤齋，紐約

亞瑟•M•賽克勒 (1913-1987) 收藏

艾爾斯•賽克勒 (1913-2000) 收藏

亞瑟•M•賽克勒基金會收藏

紐約佳士得2017年9月14日，編號904

Luo Zhenyu, Zhensongtang jigu yiwen [Gathering of ancient writings in the Zhensongtang], vol. 9, 1930, p. 10.

Wang Chen, Xuyinwencun [Continuation of the surviving writings from the Yin dynasty], vol. 2, 1935, p. 49.

Liu Tizhi, Xiaojiaojingge jinwen taben [Rubbings of archaic bronze inscriptions in the Xiaojiaojingge], vol. 7, 1935, p. 2.

Luo Zhenyu, Sandai jijin wencun [Surviving writings from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties], vol. 14, 1937, p. 33.

Yan Yiping, Jinwen Zongji [Corpus of bronze inscriptions], Taipei, 1983, no. 6301.

Minao Hayashi, In Shū Jidai seidōki no kenkyū. In Shū seidōki souran [Research of bronze ware of Shang and Zhou dynasty], vol. 2, Tokyo, 1984, pl. 139, xiaoxingyu, no. 22.

Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Washington, D.C., 1990, pl. 59.

The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Yinzhou jinwen jichengshiwen [Interpretations of the compendium of Yin and Zhou bronze inscriptions], vol. 3, Hong Kong, 2001, no. 3020.

Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Yinzhou jinwen jicheng [Compendium of Yin and Zhou bronze inscriptions], Beijing, 2007, no. 03020.

Wang Tao and Liu Yu, Liusan oumei yinzhou youming qingtongqi jilu (A Selection of Early Chinese Bronzes with Inscriptions from Sotheby's and Christie's Sales), Shanghai, 2007, pl. 69.

Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of inscriptions and images of bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties], vol. 7, Shanghai, 2012, no. 03514.

出版

羅振玉，《貞松堂集古遺文》，卷9，1930年，頁10

王辰，《續殷文存》，卷下，1935年，頁49

劉體智，《小校經閣金文拓本》，卷7，1935年，頁2

羅振玉，《三代吉金文存》，卷14，1937年，頁33

嚴一萍，《金文總集》，台北，1983年，編號6301

林巳奈夫，《殷周時代青銅器の研究：殷周青銅器綜覽》，冊下，東京，1984年，圖版139，小型盂22

傑西卡•羅森，《Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections》，卷IIB，華盛頓，1990年，圖版59

中國社會科學院考古研究所編，《殷周金文集成釋文》，卷3，香港，2001年，編號3020

中國社會科學院考古研究所編，《殷周金文集成》，北京，2007年，編號03020

汪濤及劉雨，《流散歐美殷周有銘青銅器集錄》，上海，2007年，圖版69

吳鎮烽，《商周青銅器銘文暨圖像集成》，卷7，上海，2012年，編號03514

Fitchburg Art Museum, Massachusetts, 2005-2015 (on loan).

展覽

菲奇堡藝術博物館，麻省，2005年至2015年 (借展)

The present bronze vessel is cast with the deep U-shaped bowl supported on a tall foot and flanked by a pair of upturned loop handles. This particular form has been identified by archaic bronze inscriptions as gui or yu. See, for example, a vessel of this type, cast to the interior with Zhong zuo bao gui (precious gui made by Zhong), published in Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of inscriptions and images of bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties], vol. 8, Shanghai, 2012, no. 04127; and one from the Qing Court Collection, now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, inscribed with a fifteen-character inscription identifying it as a yu made by Bo, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Bronze Ritual Vessels and Musical Instruments, Hong Kong, 2006, pl. 47.

The differentiation between gui and yu of this type can sometimes be challenging. A widely established method of classification, which has been accepted by multiple contemporary scholars, appears to be based on the size of the vessels. Ma Chengyuan suggested in his book that small vessels of this form are gui, and medium or large vessels are yu (see Zhongguo qingtongqi/The Chinese Bronzes, Shanghai, 2010, p. 151). Zhu Fenghan further noted in his book that bronze yu are usually large in size, averaging over 40 cm in height and 55 cm in diameter (see Zhongguo qingtongqi zonglun/A Comprehensive Survey of Chinese Bronzes, vol. 1, Shanghai, 2009, p. 307).

Although bronze gui of this type are known from the late Shang to Western Zhou dynasty, the overall form of the present bronze indicates a late Shang dynasty attribution. Compare a smaller vessel of a very similar form, but with an unidentified fitting to the interior, attributed to the first half of the Yinxu period, excavated at Xibeigang in Anyang, Henan province, included in the exhibition King Wu Ding and Lady Hao. Art and Culture of the Late Shang Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2012, cat. no. III-4. Related Western Zhou dynasty examples are usually modeled with a more compressed body and a spreading foot, such as one from the Qing Court Collection, now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in the Palace Museum, ed., Gugong qingtongqi/ Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, no. 116; and another published in Zhang Shengfu and Zhang Tunsheng, Shaanxi chutu shangzhou qingtongqi [Bronzes of Shang and Zhou dynasties unearthed in Shaanxi Province], vol. 2, Beijing, 1980, pl. 103.

The present gui is cast to the interior with a single character ge (dagger-axe), which is the name of an ancient clan mostly active in the Shaanxi and Henan areas during the Shang to early Western Zhou period. Apart from appearing in bronze inscriptions, the ge name also occurs in oracle bone inscriptions, which indicates the prominent social status of this clan during the Shang dynasty. Jessica Rawson also noted the importance of this pictogram in her book Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Washington, D.C., 1990, p. 455. See several other late Shang dynasty bronze gui with the ge pictogram, some of which are now preserved in major museums, published in Wu Zhenfeng, op. cit., vol. 7, nos 03515-03521.