Serving vessel with lid (<em>dun</em>) and dragons and ducks
date: label: Date
content: 5th century BCE
label: Period
content: Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period
notes: label: Description
content: Ellipsoid in section, and cover (one large and one small fragment missing). Two annular handles opposite on the minor axis. Three ducks and two stops on cover. Two horizontal bands of diaper pattern on vessel. Patches of azurite, malachite and cuprite patination inside and out. Li-yu type.
label: Label
content: The ellipsoidal food vessel stands on a small undecorated flaring foot. Only a narrow horizontal concave register at the upper edge of the rim of the bowl interrupts the full swelling contours. Two circular handles appear on opposite sides of the bowl. The low rounded lid is unadorned except for three small ducks that serve as legs when the cover is inverted and four miniature masks that overhang the lower edge of the lid to keep it in position. Enlivening the seated ducks and miniature masks is a meticulous combination of textural motifs. That naturalism contrasts with the stylized interlaced bands that appear on the bowl and circular handles.
label: Label
content: The Freer dun is said to have been unearthed in 1923 at Liyu in northern Shanxi Province. The precision of the bronze casting--appearing almost as though the designs were engraved--and combination of abstract and naturalistic decoration are characteristic of bronzes associated with the well-known site.
label: Provenance
content: 1923
label: Provenance
content: Probably excavated at Li-yu in northern Shanxi, China in March 1923 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1923 to 1932
label: Provenance
content: Madame L. Wannieck [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1932
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Madame L. Wannieck, of Paris in 1932 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C., exhibition cat. (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982), pg. 32, cat. no. 4. Also see object file, undated folder sheet note 3, notes from L. Wannieck, as well as, object file, undated folder sheet note 5, Carl Bishop.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1. Also see object file, undated folder sheet note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 2. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Art and Industry: China’s Houma Foundry (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (February 18, 1983 to April 1, 1987)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (March 15, 1982 to June 15, 1982)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Community, 480-222 B.C. (September 30, 1982 to February 17, 1983)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (March 9, 1981 to March 12, 1982)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Bronze, Jade, Metalwork (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, Chinese Art, 1955 (August 26, 1955 to October 25, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1946 (May 7, 1946 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Art, 1944 (November 15, 1944 to May 6, 1946)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1943 (March 22, 1943 to November 17, 1944)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Metalwork (March 14, 1931 to March 22, 1943)
label: Exhibition History
content: Stone Sculpture, Buddhist Bronze, and Chinese Painting (May 2, 1923 to February 25, 1956)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Madame L. Wannieck
place: label: Origin
content: Shanxi Province, China
topic: label: Topic
content: casting
label: Topic
content: metal
label: Topic
content: bronze
label: Topic
content: duck
label: Topic
content: dragon
label: Topic
content: Eastern Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 BCE)
label: Topic
content: Warring States period (475 - 221 BCE)
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
setName: label: On View
content: West Building (Freer Gallery of Art), Gallery 18: Art and Industry: China's Ancient Houma Foundry
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: F1932.13a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Vessel
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Bronze
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 15.3 x 16.4 cm (6 x 6 7/16 in)