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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 yin and yang and would be equally appropriate on a bronze of either secular or religious purposes.<br><br>When inverted, the cover forms a cup. It likely held liquids like wine at festive banquets or religious ceremonies. The cylindrical "handles" at the neck band suggest that the vessel was carried by a cord.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
124055
label
Wine Vessel (Hu)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
124055
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 yin and yang and would be equally appropriate on a bronze of either secular or religious purposes.<br><br>When inverted, the cover forms a cup. It likely held liquids like wine at festive banquets or religious ceremonies. The cylindrical "handles" at the neck band suggest that the vessel was carried by a cord.
date
c. 1000–900 BCE
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60742261
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
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
titleInOriginalLanguage
壺
collection
China - Zhou Dynasty
inscriptions
inscription
inscription inside top (cup): 事从作壺
inscription_translation
Shi cong zuo hu
inscription_remark
There are 4 characters in archaic script inside the bottom of the cup, which say “Shi Cong made hu,” which means that it was either made for or by a man named Shi Cong or for an official with the family name of Cong.
didYouKnow
This vessel was cast by the <em>cire perdue</em>, or lost wax, process.
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
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. 7
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:23:43.180000
sourceId
124055
dept
Chinese Art
coll
China - Zhou Dynasty
med
bronze
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
ebefc6a3a5557716