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.
Provenance:
To 1916
C. T. Loo, Lai-Yuan & Co., New York, to April 1, 1916 [1]
From 1916 to 1968
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]
From 1968
Freer Gallery of Art, given by Agnes E. Meyer in 1968 [3]
Notes:
[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.
A stamped note on the invoice states that the payment for the bronze was received by Loo on April 1, 1916.
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).
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.
[2] See C. T. Loo, Lai-Yuan & Co.’s invoice, cited in note 1.
[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.
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
Art and Industry: China’s Houma Foundry (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
Studies in Connoisseurship 1923-1983 (September 23, 1983 to March 1, 1984)
Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Memorial Exhibition (September 25, 1971 to October 2, 1972)
Previous custodian or owner:
C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer ((1875-1959) and (1887-1970))
