Lidded square ritual wine vessel (<em>fanghu</em>) with painted decoration
date: label: Date
content: 206 BCE-220 CE
label: Period
content: Han dynasty
notes: label: Description
content: Fang-hu with curved walls and a lid in the shape of a truncated pyramid. There is a small loop on the cover. Animal masks in relief, holding movable rings, appear on two sides below the neck. The sides of the vessel are decorated with a frieze of abstract, swirling designs painted between narrow bands of red pigment. A red band also decorates the narrow foot.
label: Provenance
content: To 1916
label: Provenance
content: C. T. Loo, Lai-Yuan & Co., New York, to April 1, 1916 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1916 to 1968
label: Provenance
content: Eugene Meyer (1875-1959) and Agnes E. Meyer (1887-1970), Washington, DC, and Mt. Kisco, NY, purchased from C. T. Loo, Lai-Yuan & Co. on April 1, 1916 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1968
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, given by Agnes E. Meyer in 1968 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See C. T. Loo, Lai-Yuan & Co.’s invoice issued to Mrs. Eugene Meyer and dated February 29, 1916, where the bronze is listed as “Square bronze vase with cover, painted with polychrome floral designs,” copy in object file.
label: Provenance
content: A stamped note on the invoice states that the payment for the bronze was received by Loo on April 1, 1916.
label: Provenance
content: The invoice includes three other bronzes (see records for F1968. 32a-b, F1968.33, and F1968.34a-b) which with F1968.35a-b form a group probably made as a set to be used as mingqi (funerary objects).
label: Provenance
content: The four vessels reportedly came from Changsha, Hunan province, however, there is no certainty of their provenance, see Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Memorial Exhibition exh. cat. (Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1971), pp. 28-29 (ill.) and Diane M. Nelson, “Bronze ‘Ming-ch’i’ Vessels with Painted Decoration: A Regional Study in Han Pictorialism,” Artibus Asiae 42, 2/3 (1980), pp. 147-8.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See C. T. Loo, Lai-Yuan & Co.’s invoice, cited in note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See Agnes E. Meyer’s Deed of Gift, where the object is listed as no. 21 in the document’s Annex, dated July 24, 1967, copy in object file. The object was accessioned to the Freer Gallery’s collection in 1968.
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: Studies in Connoisseurship 1923-1983 (September 23, 1983 to March 1, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Memorial Exhibition (September 25, 1971 to October 2, 1972)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: C. T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: casting
label: Topic
content: painting (image-making)
label: Topic
content: metal
label: Topic
content: bronze
label: Topic
content: Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE)
label: Topic
content: wine
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: Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1968.35a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Vessel
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Bronze
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 17.8 x 10.9 cm (7 x 4 5/16 in)