Rubbings from the Inscribed Bronze Tureen "Zhong Yi Fu" Xu

Late Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1100�771 b.c.e.), undated

Hanging scroll, ink rubbed on paper; 148.8 x 42.6 cm (comprising sheet mounted above: 27.7 x 42.6 cm; sheet mounted at center with rubbings: 97.4 x 42.6 cm; and sheet mounted below: 23.7 x 42.6 cm); rubbing of vessel: approx. 18.2 x 29.6 cm; rubbing of inscription at upper right: approx. 11.9 x 6.0 cm; rubbing of inscription at upper left: approx. 11.9 x 6.0 cm

Date of rubbing not given; Qing dynasty (1644�1911), late 19th�early 20th century

Inventory number: Biaozhou 604

The xu, an oblong container for rice and sorghum that was also used as a grain-offering vessel in rituals, has a slightly flared mouth and a lid with appendages in the form of rectangles or small animals, which enable it to function as a separate container when reversed.� The vessel has handles and a foot ring, and a small number of this type feature animal-feet supports.� The xu closely resembles another bronze vessel type, the gui, in square or rectangular form, and certain inscriptions on xu even refer to them as gui.� The xu, popular in the mid- and late Western Zhou periods, was an immediate variation of the gui.

The xu shown in this fine full-figured rubbing bears an 11-character inscription on the container and a 10-character inscription on the lid, including reference to a certain "Zhong Yi Fu," from which the vessel takes its name.� Once owned by the collector Wu Dacheng (1835�1902), its present whereabouts is unknown.� The rubbing carries a colophon in seal script by Han Huixun, in which his identification of the vessel as a gui is mistaken.