gui BM-1936-1118.2

Period:Western Zhou dynasty Production date:1050BC-771BC (circa)
Materials:bronze
Technique:
Subjects:mythical figure/creature (?)
Dimensions:Height: 19.30 centimetres Width: 41 centimetres Depth: 41 centimetres

Description:
Bronze vessel of the type called gui. This vessel is known as the Xing Hou gui based on its inscription. It has a rounded body constricted at the neck; deeply curving sides are complemented by four handles. An intaglio cicada is located opposite each handle. Each of the four compartments of the vessel’s surfaces is filled with a fabulous creature that seems to have been based upon an elephant; it has a long trunk and two roundels above its head, suggesting the bumps on an elephant’s forehead. Other features are taken from traditional bronze motifs, including quills used for its limbs and a spiralling ridge on its body derived perhaps from the earlier coiled dragon.
IMG


Comments:Rawson 1987:Like the Kang Hou gui this vessel is famous first and foremost for its inscription, which records the grant of three groups of men to a Xing Hou (Marquis of Xing) and dedication of the gui to the illustrious Zhou Gong. Descendants of Zhou Gong (the Duke of Zhou) held the Xing fief in what is now southern Hebei, A very similar example, the Chen Jian gui, has come from the same area. Its inscription also mentions the Xing Hou.Like the Xing Hou gui the Chen Jian gui has a rounded body constricted at the neck; deeply curving sides are complemented by four handles on both vessels. Four-handled gui seem to have been a particularity of Zhou casting. On the Xing Hou gui an intaglio cicada is located opposite each handle. Each of the four compartments of the vessel’s surfaces is filled with a fabulous creature that seems to have been based upon an elephant; it has a long trunk and two roundels above its head, suggesting the bumps on an elephant’s forehead. Other features are taken from traditional bronze motifs, including quills used for its limbs and a spiralling ridge on its body derived perhaps from the earlier coiled dragon (no. 23).This elephant motif is found on a number of well-known inscribed bronzes, including the Shi Shang you and zun in the Harvard University Art Museums and Hakutsuru Museum, Kobe. The Shi Shang zun resembles the Zhe zun (Fig. 12a) and probably and probably also dates to the latter part of the early Western Zhou. The Xing Hou gui, the Chen Jian gui and a further elephant-decorated gui – the Yi Gong gui – may be slightly later in date. Their steeply inward-sloping profiles match those of the Ban gui and a bird-decorated example from Beijing Fangshan Liulihe, vessels that are generally assigned to the first stages of the middle Western Zhou.