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Source Description
From the finely proportioned body to the elaborate decoration cast with great precision, this ritual wine vessel displays the artistic refinement and technical virtuosity that marked the full blossoming of late Shang bronze art. The dramatic contrast of the crested birds (<em>kuifeng</em>) against the dense background of spiral patterns (<em>leiwen</em>) gives the vessel a new force, clarity, and intense vitality. The distinctive square body also places it as a rare and important type among the more usual round or ovoid types.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
138689
label
Square Wine Container (Fangyou)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
138689
contentType
object
title
Square Wine Container (Fangyou)
description
From the finely proportioned body to the elaborate decoration cast with great precision, this ritual wine vessel displays the artistic refinement and technical virtuosity that marked the full blossoming of late Shang bronze art. The dramatic contrast of the crested birds (<em>kuifeng</em>) against the dense background of spiral patterns (<em>leiwen</em>) gives the vessel a new force, clarity, and intense vitality. The distinctive square body also places it as a rare and important type among the more usual round or ovoid types.
date
c. 1250–1046 BCE
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60754024
genreSpecific
Metalwork
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 26.7 x 13.4 cm (10 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.)
cul
China, Henan province, probably Anyang, Shang dynasty (c. 1600–c. 1046 BCE), Anyang phase (c. 1250–1046 BCE)
accession
1963.103
Source extras
tec
bronze
tombstone
Square Wine Container (Fangyou), c. 1250–1046 BCE. China, Henan province, probably Anyang, Shang dynasty (c. 1600–c. 1046 BCE), Anyang phase (c. 1250–1046 BCE). Bronze; overall: 26.7 x 13.4 cm (10 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1963.103
collection
China - Shang Dynasty
didYouKnow
The bird motif decoration of this bronze is uncommon; more often these bronzes are decorated with a combination of birds and dragons.
citations
citation
Huang Jun [Huang Chün] 黄濬. <em>Ye zhong pian yu </em>[鄴中片羽 = An-yang antiquities]. Beiping: Zunguzhai 尊古齋, 1935.
page_number
Reproduced: Pt. 2, I, pl. 17B
citation
Rong, Geng [Jung Keng] 容庚. <em>Shang Zhou yi qi tong kao </em>[商周彝器通考 = The Bronzes of Shang and Chou]. Beiping: Harvard-Yenching Institute 哈佛燕京學社, 1941.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: I. p. 416; II, fig. 627
citation
Mizuno, Seiichi 水野清一. <em>In Shū seidōki to tama </em>殷周青銅器と玉. Tōkyō: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha 日本経済新聞社, 1959.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 46
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. “The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art” (1994).
page_number
Mentioned: p. 292, no. 68; Reproduced: p. 283, no. 68
citation
“Oriental Art Recently Acquired by American Museums, 1963.” <em>Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America</em> 18 (1964): 69–91.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 8, p. 71
citation
Ho, Wai-Kam. “Shang and Chou Bronzes.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 51, no. 7 (September 1964): 175–187.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 175, fig. 1
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. 244
citation
<em>Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967.
page_number
Reproduced: pl. 49
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. 244
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. 324
citation
Watson, William. <em>L’art de L’ancienne Chine</em>. Paris: Mazenod, 1979.
page_number
Reproduced: pl. 204, p. 383
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 5
citation
Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. <em>Masterworks of Asian Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 24–25
citation
May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. <em>Knockouts: A Pocket Guide</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 76, p. 72 and 118
citation
Chung, Anita. "A Connoisseur's Eye, A Scholar's Mind: The Legacy of Sherman Lee." <em>Orientations </em>vol. 40, no. 5 (2009).
page_number
Reproduced: p. 30, fig. 3
citation
Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. <em>Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 24-25
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:06:30.408000
sourceId
138689
dept
Chinese Art
coll
China - Shang Dynasty
med
bronze
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
c2407ed434917c5e