The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Square Wine Container (Fangyou)

c. 1250–1046 BCE

China, Henan province, probably Anyang, Shang dynasty

(c. 1600–c. 1046 BCE), Anyang phase (c. 1250–1046 BCE)
bronze
Overall: 26.7 x 13.4 cm (10 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1963.103
Location: 241A Arts of Ancient China

Did You Know?

The bird motif decoration of this bronze is uncommon; more often these bronzes are decorated with a combination of birds and dragons.

Description

From the finely proportioned body to the elaborate decoration cast with great precision, this ritual wine vessel displays the artistic refinement and technical virtuosity that marked the full blossoming of late Shang bronze art. The dramatic contrast of the crested birds (kuifeng) against the dense background of spiral patterns (leiwen) gives the vessel a new force, clarity, and intense vitality. The distinctive square body also places it as a rare and important type among the more usual round or ovoid types.
  • ?–1963
    (S. Kriger, Inc., Washington, DC, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1963–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Huang Jun [Huang Chün] 黄濬. Ye zhong pian yu [鄴中片羽 = An-yang antiquities]. Beiping: Zunguzhai 尊古齋, 1935. Reproduced: Pt. 2, I, pl. 17B
    Rong, Geng [Jung Keng] 容庚. Shang Zhou yi qi tong kao [商周彝器通考 = The Bronzes of Shang and Chou]. Beiping: Harvard-Yenching Institute 哈佛燕京學社, 1941. Mentioned and Reproduced: I. p. 416; II, fig. 627
    Mizuno, Seiichi 水野清一. In Shū seidōki to tama 殷周青銅器と玉. Tōkyō: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha 日本経済新聞社, 1959. Reproduced: fig. 46
    Cleveland Museum of Art. “The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art” (1994). Mentioned: p. 292, no. 68; Reproduced: p. 283, no. 68 www.jstor.org
    “Oriental Art Recently Acquired by American Museums, 1963.” Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America 18 (1964): 69–91. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 8, p. 71 www.jstor.org
    Ho, Wai-Kam. “Shang and Chou Bronzes.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 51, no. 7 (September 1964): 175–187. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 175, fig. 1 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 244 archive.org
    Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Reproduced: pl. 49
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 244 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 324 archive.org
    Watson, William. L’art de L’ancienne Chine. Paris: Mazenod, 1979. Reproduced: pl. 204, p. 383
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 5 archive.org
    Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 24–25
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 76, p. 72 and 118
    Chung, Anita. "A Connoisseur's Eye, A Scholar's Mind: The Legacy of Sherman Lee." Orientations vol. 40, no. 5 (2009). Reproduced: p. 30, fig. 3
    Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: pp. 24-25
  • Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).
    Science within Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 13-April 20, 1980).
    Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964).
  • {{cite web|title=Square Wine Container (Fangyou)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1250–1046 BCE|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1963.103