hu BM-1970-1104.1

Period:Western Zhou dynasty Production date:9thC BC (circa)
Materials:bronze
Technique:

Dimensions:Diameter: 33 centimetres Height: 6.50 centimetres (inscription inside vessel) Height: 45.50 centimetres Width: 8 centimetres (inscription inside vessel)

Description:
Bronze vessel of the type called hu. This vessel is decorated with three registers featuring the same deep wave pattern. At neck on two sides a horned creature is holding a ring handle in its mouth. The ring handle consists of the same scale decoration as the band on the foot ring. The lid is lost.
IMG


Comments:Rawson 1987:This hu was dedicated by one Shi Wang. A ding also dedicated by Shi Wang is known; a gui inscription mentioning the same individual is recorded by Shirakawa. Li Xueqin has argued that Shi Wang belonged to the same clan as one Shi Zai who cast a large ding excavated at Shaanxi Fufeng Qiangjiacun. The inscription on this austerely decorated ding also mentions the deceased Mu Wang and is therefore thought to date to the succeeding Gong Wang reign. The Shi Wang vessels are likely to be somewhat later.In the middle Western Zhou tall you were enlarged to make slender hu. These vessels were employed singly; examples have come from middle Western Zhou tombs, such as that of Yu Bo at Shaanxi Baoji Rujiazhuang. In the second hald of middle Western Zhou the hu shape was altered to make hu of the present type, used in pairs. The deep wave pattern seen on the Shi Wang hu was one of the motifs invented concurrently with the marked changes in ritual vessel shape.