An inscribed archaic bronze ritual wine vessel (Gu), Late Shang dynasty | 商末 青銅饕餮紋觚

Collection of Major Albert Victor Rome (1920-1980), acquired in Japan between 1945 and 1952, and thence by descent. 

Albert Victor Rome 少校 (1920-1980) 收藏，1945至1952年之間得於日本，此後家族傳承

The clan pictogram cast on the present bronze has been debated among scholars, interpreted variously as li 鬲, bing 炳, and bing 丙, with the last being the most influential interpretation. The Bing clan was one of the vassal states in the late Shang and early Western Zhou dynasty. There are over 170 extant bronzes known to be from the Bing state, which is a considerable amount compared to the discoveries made for other vassal states of the period. During China's Bronze Age, when the precious metal materials used to cast bronze objects were highly treasured and limited, the quantity of bronze production was undoubtedly one of the most important indications to the strength of a state.

A few extant bronze gu inscribed with the same clan symbol have been recorded, including two with a different design, excavated from the Shang tombs in Jingjie village, Lingshi county, Shanxi province, illustrated in Wu Zhenfeng, Shang Zhou qingtong qi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of important inscriptions and images of bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties], vol. 17, Shanghai, 2012, nos 09175 and 9176; and two in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Yin Zhou jinwen jicheng [Compendium of Yin and Zhou bronze inscriptions], Beijing, 1984, nos 06763 and 06764.