Images

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=5AC335A2FB1534BC91C1CD372D1D0D3184BA4200CC8402846850DEACE9C46002&s=24247294&se=703004430&v=1&f=%5Cd3118%5Cu2831189%5C1975.62_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=412EB4773204BC6579CBC7839F47D8FE81A5383EF86EA64ED3E22B9C349A9649&s=24247294&se=703004430&v=1&f=%5Cd9320%5Cu109793206%5C1975.62det01_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=024D9F9005A16C6094827698EF3E3A9CB731FD9B7109E40AE185DB334FF31705&s=24247294&se=703004430&v=1&f=%5Cd9368%5Cu109793682%5C1975.62det02_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=024D9F9005A16C60D3B5025F3191AC1528E57233091ABFCC0E46516B9B1BC5A9&s=24247294&se=703004430&v=1&f=%5Cd9428%5Cu109794284%5C1975.62det03_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=2B3E9C47B6AF17766D7BF26F577611E1F35237201570CE9D2183D7891EF48093&s=24247294&se=703004430&v=1&f=%5Cd9494%5Cu109794944%5C1975.62det04_o2.jpg

Additional Views

Jun 25, 2018

Hu (Jar)

壺

481–221 BC

China, Eastern Zhou dynasty (771-256 BC), Warring States period

(475-221 BC)

Bronze

Overall: 25.5 cm (10 1/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1975.62

Location

not on view

Did you know?

On the vessel’s shoulders are applied taotie masks from which stem vertical loops for holding the vessel possibly with a rope.

Description

The hunting scenes in flat, low relief on this vessel are among the earliest pictorial scenes in Chinese art, dating from the beginning of the Late Zhou period (481–221 BC).

There are six horizontal bands of low relief designs across the body of the vessel. Each is composed of repeating motifs. The short slightly flaring neck has a narrow band of plait pattern, below which is a vivid hunting scene. The hunter holding a long spear and a sword faces off with a feline covered in circle patterns.

The main body of the vessel is decorated with two wide bands of interlacing dragons, separated by a band with another hunting scene. This hunter faces two horned beasts whose rear leg has been pierced by a spear.

The repeating pattern in the lowest band features two long-legged birds and a small fish.

Provenance

? by 1929–1949

Adolphe Stoclet [1871–1949], Palais Stoclet, Brussels, Belgium ¹

?–1975

(J. E. Eskenazi, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1975–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Provenance Footnotes

¹1929 Chinesische Kunst exhibition catalogue, pl. 31, lists its owner as "Herr A. Stoclet, Brüssels."
ü

Citations

The Chinese Exhibition; A Commemorative Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, November 1935-March 1936. London: Faber and Faber, 1936. Mentioned: cat. no. 166

Sirén, Osvald. A History of Early Chinese Art. London: E. Benn, Limited, 1929. Reproduced: pl. 101

Kümmel, Otto. Chinesische Kunst; zweihundert Hauptwerke der Ausstellung der Gesellschaft für Ostasiatische Kunst in der Preussischen Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 1929, herausgegeben von Otto Kümmel. Berlin: B. Cassirer, 1930. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 21 and pl. XXXI

d'Ardenne de Tizac, H. La sculpture chinoise. Paris: G. Van Oest, 1931. Reproduced: pl. XXXIII

Umehara, Sueji 梅原末治. ŌBei shūcho Shina kodō seika [歐米蒐儲支那古銅精華 = Selected relics of ancient Chinese bronzes from collections in Europe and America]. Ōsaka: Yamanaka Shōkai, 1933. Reproduced: vol. III, pl. 212

Salles, Georges, and Madeleine David. Bronzes chinois des dynasties Tcheou, Tsʻin & Han. Paris, France: Musée de l'Orangerie, 1934. cat. no. 397

Vignier, Charles. Notes inédites, "l'Exposition de Bronzes Chinois," Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, 1934. Revue des arts asiatiques vol. VIII, no. III. Reproduced: pl. XLII

Umehara, Sueji 梅原末治. Sengoku shiki dôki no kenkyu [戰國式銅器の研究 = Étude des bronzes des royaumes combattants]. Kyôto: Tôhô bunka gakuin Kyôto kenkyûjo, 1936. Reproduced: Pls. 92 and 94

Karlgren, Bernhard. "New Studies on Chinese Bronzes." Bulletin, vol. 9 Stockholm, 1937. Reproduced: pl. LIX, 2 and LX, 2

Rong, Geng 容庚 [Jung Keng]. Shang Zhou yi qi tong kao [商周彝器通考 = The Bronzes of Shang and Chou]. [Beiping]: Hafo Yanjing xue she, 1941. Reproduced: Pl. 400

Sirén, Osvald. Kinas konst under tre årtusenden. Stockholm: Natur och kultur, 1942. Reproduced: pl. 48-C

Visser, H. F. E. Asiatic Art in Private Collections of Holland and Belgium. Amsterdam: "De Spieghel" Pub. Co, 1948. Reproduced: pl. 27, no. 29

Weber, Charles D. “Chinese Pictorial Bronze Vessels of the Late Chou Period. Part III.” Artibus Asiae 29, no. 2/3 (1967): 115–192. Reproduced: www.jstor.org

Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1975.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 63, no. 2 (February 1976): 31–71. Mentioned: no. 177, pp. 33, 71; Reproduced: no. 177, p. 55 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 326 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 9 archive.org

Eskenazi, Giuseppe, and Hajni Elias. A Dealer's Hand: The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi. London, England: Scala, 2012. Mentioned: p. 32; Reproduced: p. 33

Exhibition history

Chinesische Kunst: zweihundert Hauptwerke der Ausstellung der Gesellschaft für Ostasiatische Kunst [Chinese art; two hundred main works from the exhibition of the Society for East Asian Art]. Der Preussischen Akademie der Künste [Prussian Academy of Arts], Berlin, Germany (1929).

Bronzes Chinois. Musée de l'Orangerie. Paris, France (May-June 1934).

International Exhibition of Chinese Art. Burlington House, Royal Academy of Arts, London, England (November 1935-March 1936).

Ancient Chinese bronzes from the Stoclet and Wessén Collections. Eskenazi Ltd., London, England (June 11-July 12, 1975).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Hu (Jar)|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1975.62|year=481–221 BC|access-date=07 June 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.

You are here:

Images

Hu (Jar)

Hu (Jar)

壺

China, Eastern Zhou dynasty (771-256 BC), Warring States period

Location

Download and Share

Did you know?

Description

Provenance Footnotes

Contact us