Hexagonal vessel (with two of the sides wider than the other four, thus providing a front/back-and-sides orientation), tapering slightly towards the top opening, with a pronounced angular bulge around the vessel about one-third from the bottom, and four tall, hexagonal, open-end projections at the top. The entire vessel sits on a high double hexagonal base. Poorly cast in one piece.
Surface: green patina with heavy incrustations of lighter green and orange-colored earth.
Decoration: Each of the six panels on the tubular section of the vessel is decorated with a miniature arrow-holder in relief, with the front one holding the greatest number of arrows. Four of these panels bear a two-character inscription above the arrow-holder; they read: ???, "huang-hu" [Chn], "kuan-erh" [Chn], and ? erh [Chn]. Two rows of stylized lotus petals ornament the juncture of the tube and the large projection. On the latter, each of the six panels is decorated with a creature in relief: a "ch'i-lin" and a phoenix on the front and back, two lioins and two stags on the sides. The four projections around the mouth of the vessel have a "lei-wan" background on their panels, and a human figure in relief on the front panel of the front and back projections. Incised floral design on the remaining surfaces. The base simulates a balustrade by means of the shape of its openwork panels.
Provenance:
To 1911
Pong, Beijing, to 1911 [1]
From 1911 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Pong in 1911 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Original Bronze List, S.I. 222, 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.
