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Source Description
This tall, slender bronze wine vessel, called a <em>hu</em>, has three bands of ornamentation: one above the foot, one around the neck, and one on the cover. Stylized birds or phoenixes are in the band around the neck, while the band on the cover and foot feature geometric dragons. The dragon and the phoenix may represent the Yin and Yang and would be equally appropriate on a bronze of either secular or religious purposes. When inverted, the cover forms a cup. It likely held liquids like wine at festive banquets or religious ceremonies.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
124056
label
Wine Vessel (Hu)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
124056
contentType
object
title
Wine Vessel (Hu)
description
This tall, slender bronze wine vessel, called a <em>hu</em>, has three bands of ornamentation: one above the foot, one around the neck, and one on the cover. Stylized birds or phoenixes are in the band around the neck, while the band on the cover and foot feature geometric dragons. The dragon and the phoenix may represent the Yin and Yang and would be equally appropriate on a bronze of either secular or religious purposes. When inverted, the cover forms a cup. It likely held liquids like wine at festive banquets or religious ceremonies.
date
c. 1000–900 BCE
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60778424
genreSpecific
Metalwork
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 46.1 cm (18 1/8 in.); without cover: 41.7 cm (16 7/16 in.)
cul
China, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–771 BCE)
accession
1944.61.a
Source extras
tec
bronze
tombstone
Wine Vessel (Hu) (壺), c. 1000–900 BCE. China, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–771 BCE). Bronze; overall: 46.1 cm (18 1/8 in.); without cover: 41.7 cm (16 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1944.61.a
titleInOriginalLanguage
壺
collection
China - Zhou Dynasty
formerAccessionNumbers
1944.61
didYouKnow
The cylindrical "handles" suggest that the vessel was carried by a cord.
citations
citation
Kümmel, Otto. <em>Jörg Trübner zum Gedächtnis. Ergebnisse seiner letzten chinesischen Reisen</em>. Berlin: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1930.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. 18 and 19
citation
Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York. <em>Oriental Art</em>. March 16–17, 1944. Lot 225.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 46–47, lot no. 225
citation
Hollis, Howard. “A Chinese Bronze Vessel.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 32, no. 7 (1945): 139–140, 143.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 139–140; Reproduced: p. 143
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 802
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 246
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 246
citation
Chen, Mengjia 陳夢家, and Michio Matsumaru 松丸道雄. <em>In Shū seidōki bunrui zuroku</em> [殷周青銅器分類図錄 = A corpus of Chinese bronzes in American collections]. Tōkyō: Kyūko Shoin, 1977.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 1000, 1001, no. A694
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 326
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:23:39.398000
sourceId
124056
dept
Chinese Art
coll
China - Zhou Dynasty
med
bronze
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
10f3a763c6de1155