Wine container (Pou)

商青銅瓿

Title: Wine container (Pou)

Period: Shang dynasty (ca. 1500–1046 BCE)

Date: 13th century BCE

Culture: China

Medium: Bronze

Dimensions: H. 21 1/4 in. (54 cm); Diam. 19 1/2 in. (49.5 cm); Wt. 70 lb. (31.8 kg)

Classification: Metalwork

Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917

Accession Number: 17.190.524a, b

This large wine container was one of the first significant archaic bronzes to enter the museum’s holdings. Nearly two feet tall, it remains the largest example in the collection. Its swelling body, dome-shaped lid, and short circular foot are all decorated with raised taotie masks on a dense ground of spirals, which is typical of the late Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 B.C.) Created as a bold display of political power, it closely resembles two vessels excavated from the tomb of the royal consort Fu Hao (died ca. 1250 B.C.) at Anyang, Henan province.

[Zhixin Jason Sun, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Orientations, March 2015]

Signature: Signed and dated: "Made by Su Yi in the third year of the reign of Cheng Wang" (1115–1077 B.C.) in early writing on bottom of vessel, and reversed on inside lid.

Inscription: Translation by Professor W.A.C.H. Dobson, University of Toronto May 21, 1958:

In the King's fourth month, the first week, the Ding-hai day [I] Uncle Yü had this vessel made in honou of [my ancestor] the Lord of Xing, [on the occasion of] the removal of his ancestor's [tablets from the old shrine] and their installation in our family ['new? present shrines], so that we might continue our Charge both within and without. We must not dare to do the wrong thing. We must (?) perform the ? Ceremony to our accomplished (lit: "cultured") ancestors, and benefit them for ten thousand years.
May our sons and grandsons forever treasure [this vessel].

J. Pierpont Morgan American, New York (until 1917; donated to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Out of Character: Decoding Chinese Calligraphy—Selections from the Collection of Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang," April 29–August 17, 2014.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870–2020," August 29, 2020–January 3, 2021.

Leidy, Denise Patry. Mother-of Pearl: A Tradition in Asian Lacquer. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006, p. 11, fig. 3 (incorrectly listed as 19.190.524a, b).