| OBJECT UNDER SPOTLIGHT | |
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Featured in our exhibition, Archetypes and Archaism. March 20-29. Objects available for viewing March 5. Hard-cover catalogue available US$80, includes an essay from Professor Robert J. Poor, University of Minnesota, entitled "The Spirit of Wu". PAIR OF ARCHAIC BRONZE VESSELS, Fanghu Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Warring States period (475-221 BCE) Height: 11 ~ inches (29.2 cm) |
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Square at the foot and mouth, the sides of the vessels swell out,
giving them a round profile. There is a taotie mask with a ring on each
side of the bronzes. The decor, made up of repeated half-inch squares
with a raised comma pattern that swirls around a cloud shape, is all
within an off-set rectangular pattern with plain bands separating the
rectangles. Hairbreadth lines striate the four commas and create a
geometric pattern between the commas and cloud shape. The vessels rest
on a low, square foot. They have square covers mounted with arched
dragons looped from the head to the feet with a large horn curling
upwards. These covers can rest upturned on the dragon head
protrusions, acting as serving dishes.
The shape of these vessels is very rare. Few fanghu of this period exist. The bianhu, a flattened flask shape, with the same kind of offset decoration is also rare although more examples are documented, see Loehr, 1968, no. 65. This pair of vessels, fanghu, seem to be most closely related to the bianhu of the period, with the same squat body, round profile and decoration. The patina on these bronzes is called a water patina. The bronzes were sitting in water and did not form a green skin as is common with bronzes sitting in soil since antiquity. Instead, the patina is a smooth brownish green and the sharply cast decor is easily readable with very little encrustation. A similar vessel with a slightly higher shoulder and a different cover, called a fanglei is in the Henan Provincial Museum and published in A Selection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Beijing: Wenwu, 1976, catalogue number 71. A pair of vessels, fanghu, from the Warring States period with a narrower body shape but very similar covers are in the Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 1999, p. 199. An analysis and metallography report by Dr. Peter Northover, Department of Materials, Begbroke Science and Business Park, Oxford, has findings consistent with the date of these bronze vessels. If you would like more information on PAIR OF ARCHAIC BRONZE VESSELS, please click here. |
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| View our Object Under Spotlight for February, 2001. | |
| Object Under Spotlight for January, 2001. Sold | |
| View our Object Under Spotlight for December, 2000. | |
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