The Xizisun Gu, An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel (Gu), Shang dynasty

Roger Keverne, London, 4th May 2001.

Fine and Rare Chinese Works of Art and Ceramics. Winter Exhibition, Roger Keverne, London, 1999, cat. no. 2

The present clan mark, decoded losely in Chinese sources with the phrase Xi zi sun (析子孫), identifies the present vessel as belonging to one of the most powerful clans of the Late Shang dynasty, sometimes also called the Ju 舉. For further examples featuring the same clan mark, compare: a zun vessel of very closely related surface design, style and composition uncovered from the Shang capital of Anyang, now preserved in the Nezu Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in Sueji Umehara (1893-1983), Nihon shucho Shina kodo seika / Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Japan, vol. II, Osaka, 1959-1964, pl. 122; and other vessels described by Noel Barnard and Cheung Kwong-Yue as featuring symbol B-3, "man holding up child"; see Rubbings and Hand Copies of Bronze Inscriptions in Chinese, Japanese, European, American, and Australasian Collections, Taipei, 1978.

Another gu of Xizisun mark, dedicated to a Father Yi was preserved in the collection of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795) and included in the Xiqing gujian [Catalogue of Xiqing antiques, 1749–1755], juan 23, p. 21; alongside a lei jar of the same clan mark, ibid., juan 12, p. 4.