Vessel
date: label: Date
content: ca. 9th-8th century BCE
label: Period
content: Western Zhou dynasty
notes: label: Description
content: Chinese
label: Description
content: Recent Late Western Chou, 9th-8th centuries B.C.
label: Description
content: Vessel of the type "kuei," with cover.
label: Description
content: Surface: green patina.
label: Description
content: Decoration: in low relief and horizontal flutings. One inscription inside the bowl. and one inside the cover.
label: Inscriptions
content: Translation reads: Date (600-610 B.C.) The inscription can be partly translated, the rest remains to be studied. It reads in modern Chinese like this (eight lines, numbering one to eight, of Chinese characters follow, written in the original translation). The general idea is as follows: 'On the 12th month, after the 15th day, the date Jin-wu, Count Pi-fu was at..., the queen says...give you armour...the King Chu...yellow...give you splendid red coverlet, black coat, and leather cover,...thousands of years...so made this valuable jar for the use of offering, generation after generation, date not...'
label: Inscriptions
content: The interesting thing of this inscription is that the sixth line is similar to those on the three jars, which were made by the King for the lame person, Pi-fu, who was a vassal, and lived in Chung-chu period (about 600(?) B.C.).
label: Inscriptions
content: The interesting thing of this inscription is that the sixth line is similar to those on the three jars, which were made by the King for the lame person, Pi-fu, who was a vassal, and lived in Chung-chu period (about 600(?) B.C.).
label: Provenance
content: To 1909
label: Provenance
content: Riu Cheng Chai, Beijing, to 1909 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1909 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Riu Cheng Chai, Beijing, in 1909 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Bronze List, S.I. 84, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Brushing the Past: Later Chinese Calligraphy from the Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth (April 30, 2000 to January 2, 2001)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Riu Cheng Chai (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: casting
label: Topic
content: metal
label: Topic
content: bronze
label: Topic
content: Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050 - 771 BCE)
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
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: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1909.259a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Vessel
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Bronze
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 24.8 x 35.6 cm (9 3/4 x 14 in)