Pair of bronze ritual vessels of Gui shape

Early Western Zhou dynasty,
11th century BC

Length across the handles:
10 3/4 inches, 27.5 cm and
11 inches, 28 cm

Height: 5 3/4 inches, 14.7 cm and
6 inches, 15.2 cm

It is very rare to find a virtually identical pair of bronze vessels from this early period; although the measurements and patina of both vessels vary slightly, it is immediately obvious that they belong together.

The diamond-and-stud pattern is found on bronzes of the late Shang period (e.g. a Yu illustrated by Robert W. Bagley as no. 101 in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections), but it occurs more frequently on Gui which can be dated to the early Western Zhou dynasty. A number of examples are in the Sackler Collection, Western Zhou Ritual bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections by Jessica Rawson, nos. 41 and 45.

The bands of 'star' pattern around the rim and foot of these vessels would appear to be highly unusual, as this motif is more frequently found in combination with circular bosses. A similar Gui is in the Seattle Art Museum, illustrated in Early Chinese Metalwork in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, by Michael Knight, no. 9.

Earlier versions of this type of Gui are in the Musée Cernuschi (see: Bronzes Archaiques Chinois by Vadime Eliseeff, no. 11, which is dated to the late Shang period), and in the Shanghai Museum (see: Treasures from the Shanghai Museum - 6,000 Years of Chinese Art, no. 18).

The dedicatory inscriptions on both vessels are virtually identical, but not easy to decipher. The first character most probably refers to the name or surname of a clan representing the donor of the vessels. Some of the characters are clearly representations of ritual vessels, which are referred to here as zun and yi, which would seem inaccurate, but this sequence of characters appears quite frequently on archaic bronzes of different shapes. (see: Trésors du Musée national du Palais, Taipei; Mémoire d'Empire) The inscriptions can be translated as: "... had [these] zun and yi made for Fu Gui" and on the other vessel as: "... had [these] zun and yi made for and Fu Yi". The combination of the character fu "father" with one of the Ten Heavenly Stems (here fu gui and fu yi) is frequent on late Shang bronzes.