An inscribed archaic bronze ritual food vessel cover, Late Western Zhou dynasty | 西周末 史□父簋蓋

Collection of His Excellency Hugues Le Gallais (1896-1964).

Sotheby's London, 11th November 1958, lot 80.

Collection of Dr Wou Kiuan (1910-1997).

Wou Lien-Pai Museum, 1968-present, coll. no. E.6.4.

Hugues Le Gallais 閣下 (1896-1964) 收藏

倫敦蘇富比1958年11月11日，編號80

吳權博士 (1910-1997) 收藏

吳蓮伯博物院，1968年至今，收藏編號E.6.4

The form and the inscription of the present cover closely match the Shi Zhang Fu dui cover illustrated in Xuanhe bogu tulu [Illustrated catalogue of antique treasures from the Xuanhe hall], Boruzhai chongxiu edition, Wanli 16th year (1588), vol. 17, pp 25-26. The two inscriptions have some minor discrepancies in the details of a few characters, as can be expected, since the book illustration is a woodblock print instead of a rubbing taken directly from the piece. It is also noticeable that the measurements of the present cover are slightly inconsistent with the records from the book. This inconsistency can also be seen on another example, the Cheng Fu Gui ding, where the current published diameter does not match the record from the Xuanhe bogu tulu. The Cheng Fu Gui ding is now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and illustrated in Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of inscriptions and images of bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties], vol. 2, Shanghai, 2012, no. 00924.

Commissioned by Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-1126), Xuanhe bogu tulu is the first systematic catalogue of archaic bronzes from an imperial collection in China's history. Highly influential, the book has been referenced frequently by scholars. If the present cover is indeed the same one from this publication, it also appears in the following literature:

Wang Qiu, Xiaotang jigulu [Collection of antiquities from the Xiaotang], Song dynasty, vol. 2, p. 61.

Xue Shanggong, Lidai zhongding yiqi kuanzhi fatie [Rubbings of the inscriptions from the archaic bronzes of the past dynasties], 1935, p. 121.

The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Yinzhou jinwen jichengshiwen [Interpretations of the compendium of Yin and Zhou bronze inscriptions], vol. 3, Hong Kong, 2001, no. 3789.

The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Yinzhou jinwen jicheng [Compendium of Yin and Zhou bronze inscriptions], Beijing, 2007, no. 03789.

Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of inscriptions and images of bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties], vol. 9, Shanghai, 2012, no. 04667.

Interestingly, there have been different interpretations of the the second character in the inscription. The Xuanhe bogu tulu records it as zhang 張, with 弓 being the left radical. The more modern publications identify it as chang 立長, with 立 as the left radical. This is probably caused by the slight variation of this character in the different versions of the Xuanhe bogu tulu. The original Xuanhe bogu tulu from the Song dynasty does not appear to be preserved. The only available versions now are later reprints of the Song edition, and there are usually some discrepancies amongst the different versions. A closer examination of this particular character on the present cover, however, reveals the left radical, although closely resembling both 弓 and 立, is actually 攴/攵. It should then read 攴長/攵長, which does not appear to be a previously recognized character.