A quadruped; surface almost entirely covered with linear designs in countersunk relief. Smooth, gray-green patina with scattered encrustations of green. Bronze cracked on back, left side and belly; forelegs repaired.
Provenance:
Excavated at Li-yü, Shanxi province, China, possibly in 1923 [1]
From 1947 to 1948
C. T. Loo & Company, New York, from August 1947 [2]
From 1948
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on December 2, 1948 [3]
Notes:
[1] The animal might be identical with one of the two animals published by Georges Salles in 1934, see Georges Salles, "Les bronzes de Li-Yu," Revue des Arts Asiatiques vol. 8 (1934), pp. 156-7, pl. 50a.
Salles described the two animals as at the time still held in Shanxi.
See also Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B. C. (Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art, 1982), pp. 78-79, no. 35.
[2] See C. T. Loo's stockcard no. CHL 7/936: "Small bronze animal perfect green patina Late Chou "li Yu," C. T. Loo & Frank Caro Archive, Musée Guimet, Paris, copy in object file. According to an annotation on the stockcard, the object was imported directly from China. On January 20, 1948, the object was taken by Loo to the Freer Gallery for examination.
[3] See C. T. Loo's invoice, dated December 2, 1948, copy in object file.
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
Art and Industry: China’s Houma Foundry (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Community, 480-222 B.C. (September 30, 1982 to February 17, 1983)
Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)
Chinese Bronze, Jade, Metalwork (March 1, 1957 to January 1, 1963)
Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 14 and 15 (February 25, 1956 to March 1, 1957)
Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Art, 1955 (August 26, 1955 to October 25, 1955)
Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1946 (May 7, 1946 to February 25, 1956)
