COLLECTION NAME:
National Palace English
Record
Work ID:
M01B00053
Title:
Bronze You with Zuo Bao Zun Yi inscription
Creation Date:
Middle Western Zhou Dynasty
Start Year Date:
B.C.950
End Year Date:
B.C.850
Dynasty:
07 Western Zhou (c. 1100 ~771 B.C.)
Creation Place:
China
Measurements:
Height: 20.6 cm; Weight: 2759g
Material:
Bronze
Form:
You (wine vessel)
Type:
Bronzes
Repository:
The National Palace Museum, Taipei
Description:
This wine vessel is short and robust. Two ends of its lid jut out in triangular shapes. Its belly bulges towards the bottom, and the two sides of its swing-handle are made into three-dimensional animal heads. Both the surface of the lid and the belly are decorated with four pairs of phoenixes that form a spiral pattern. The lively and animated quality they convey is the unusual beauty of this piece. The legendary phoenix of ancient China are in fact today's peacocks. The neck area below the rim of the vessel is further decorated with long-tailed birds, again confronting each other in pairs.Identical inscriptions of four characters are inside the lid and in the inner bottom of the belly, indicating its respectful usage as a ritual vessel for ancestral worship. The content of the inscription does not specify to which ancestor the vessel is dedicated; therefore it is probably made for a more general use in the ancestral temples.
ImageV ID:
M01B00053AS003
Rights:
Lee & Lee Communications