Lidded ritual wine container (<em>hu</em>) with masks and dragons
date: label: Date
content: ca. 13th century BCE
label: Period
content: Late Shang dynasty, early Anyang period
notes: label: Description
content: Grey-green patina. Decoration cast in five registers and on cover.
label: Label
content: Between 1600 and 1300 B.C., pottery and bronze production continued their active dialogue, exchanging shapes, decorations, and production techniques. Although the shouldered gray earthenware container (lei) is a potter's shape, its dramatic interlocked T design occurs more often on bronzes. The contrast produced by the stamped textured background and the bold, smooth bands of interlocked T's, parallels the effect of the large, masklike motifs against the carefully executed spiral ground. At the same time, serrated vertical ridges commonly used on gray pottery were copied on bronzes.
label: Provenance
content: To 1947
label: Provenance
content: Likely Luwu Antiques Company, Shanghai, China to August 1947 [1]
label: Provenance
content: 1947 to 1948
label: Provenance
content: C. T. Loo & Company, New York, NY likely by transfer from Luwu Antiques Company, Shanghai [2]
label: Provenance
content: 1948 to 1949
label: Provenance
content: C. T. Loo, INC., New York by transfer from C. T. Loo & Company, NY [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1949
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo, INC. in May 1949 [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] Luwu was an export business that supplied C. T. Loo & Company, New York and Paris with Chinese. Loo formed this company in 1926. The name, Luwu combines the names of C. T. Loo and Wu Qi Zhou, Luwu’s primary associates. The business aquired objects from across China, but everything passed through Shanghai before being sent to France. Zhou and Laio would send all acquisitions to Shanghai, where Wu packaged and shipped them to France. See C. T. Loo & Company stock card, no. CHL 7/942, copy in object file. The stock card reports that the object was imported from China August of 1947.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See stock card referenced in note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] C. T. Loo formed C. T. Loo, INC in 1948, when he lost access to trade in mainland China. See invoice from C. T. Loo, INC to Freer Gallery of Art, May 10, 1949, copy in object file.
label: Provenance
content: [4] See invoice referenced in note 3.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Clay and Metal: Ancient Chinese Ceramics and Metal (February 25, 1997 to August 9, 2011)
label: Exhibition History
content: Ancient Chinese Bronzes (May 9, 1993 to February 10, 1997)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (February 18, 1983 to April 1, 1987)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Bronze, Jade, Marble (March 1, 1957 to January 1, 1963)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 14 and 15 (February 25, 1956 to March 1, 1957)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Jade and Bronze (August 26, 1955 to October 25, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1955 (October 24, 1955 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1945 (January 9, 1945 to August 20, 1955)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Lu Wu Antiques Co. 盧吳古玩公司 (1911-ca. 1949)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: C. T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: C. T. Loo, INC. (ca. 1948-no later than July 1953)
place: label: Origin
content: Anyang, Henan province, China
topic: label: Topic
content: casting
label: Topic
content: metal
label: Topic
content: bronze
label: Topic
content: dragon
label: Topic
content: Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300 - 1050 BCE)
label: Topic
content: wine
label: Topic
content: mask
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1949.5a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Vessel
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Bronze
label: Dimensions
content: H x Diam: 17.6 × 11.5 cm (6 15/16 × 4 1/2 in)