On view
Asian Art
Huo Pavilion
Huo Pavilion
Gong 觥 (pouring vessel with dragon-head lid),
11th century–771 BCE
Chinese
Western Zhou dynasty, 11th century–771 BCE
y1965-3
Coming from humble origins in their homeland in Shaanxi province, the Zhou advanced east-ward, conquering the Shang and establishing an empire that extended across much of Central China. A tour de force of ceramic piece-mold casting technique, this monumental early Zhou pouring container was intended to serve wine at ritual banquets honoring family ancestors. Both the vessel’s shape, which emulates a Shang type, and its dedicatory inscription speak to the Zhou adoption of the ritual traditions and material culture of the dynasty they overthrew. Like their Shang predecessors, early Zhou casters ornamented their bronzes with motifs based on animals both real and imagined, arranged in compartmentalized registers. The decoration on this vessel includes long-lived Shang motifs, such as the bottle-horned dragon that adorns the lid, as well as recent Zhou innovations, including the spiky birds that cover much of the vessel’s surface.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Gong 觥 (pouring vessel with dragon-head lid)
Dates
11th century–771 BCE
Medium
Bronze with matching inscriptions cast in the lid and belly
Dimensions
h. 31.3 × w. 16 × l. 36 cm, 5.3g (12 5/16 × 6 5/16 × 14 3/16 in., 11.6 lb.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase from the C. D. Carter Collection, gift of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation
Object Number
y1965-3
Place Made
Asia, China
Inscription
Inscription: Accomplished Father Ding 文父鼎 + xi zi sun emblem; (“[The lineage’s] junior son [makes this vessel for the deceased] accomplished Father Ding.”)
Culture
Period
Materials
Subject
Chester Dale Carter (1883–1962) and Dolly Carter, 1952–1965 [1]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 1965. [1] Acquired in Japan between 1952 and 1959 while Chester Dale Carter was an employee of the Ethyl Corporation.
- "Acquisitions 1965 and 1966," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 26, no. 1 (1967): p. 2, 19-32., p. 25
- Allen Rosenbaum and Francis F. Jones, Selections from The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1986), p. 248 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 263 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 315
