Decoration: in low relief and horizontal flutings. One inscription inside the bowl. and one inside the cover.
Inscriptions:
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...'
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.).
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.).
Provenance:
To 1909
Riu Cheng Chai, Beijing, to 1909 [1]
From 1909 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Riu Cheng Chai, Beijing, in 1909 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Original Bronze List, S.I. 84, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
[2] See note 1.
[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.
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
Brushing the Past: Later Chinese Calligraphy from the Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth (April 30, 2000 to January 2, 2001)
Previous custodian or owner:
Riu Cheng Chai (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
Topic:
Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050 - 771 BCE) Search this
