The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Hu (Jar)

Hu (Jar)

481–221 BCE
(770–256 BCE), Warring States period (475–221 BCE)
bronze
Overall: 25.5 cm (10 1/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1975.62
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

On the vessel’s shoulders are applied taotie masks from which stem vertical loops for holding the vessel possibly with a rope.

Description

The hunting scenes in flat, low relief on this vessel are among the earliest pictorial scenes in Chinese art, dating from the beginning of the Late Zhou period (481–221 BC).

There are six horizontal bands of low relief designs across the body of the vessel. Each is composed of repeating motifs. The short slightly flaring neck has a narrow band of plait pattern, below which is a vivid hunting scene. The hunter holding a long spear and a sword faces off with a feline covered in circle patterns.

The main body of the vessel is decorated with two wide bands of interlacing dragons, separated by a band with another hunting scene. This hunter faces two horned beasts whose rear leg has been pierced by a spear.

The repeating pattern in the lowest band features two long-legged birds and a small fish.
  • ? by 1929–1949
    Adolphe Stoclet [1871–1949], Palais Stoclet, Brussels, Belgium
    ?–1975
    (J. E. Eskenazi, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1975–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 1929 Chinesische Kunst  exhibition catalogue, pl. 31, lists its owner  as "Herr A. Stoclet, Brüssels."ü
  • The Chinese Exhibition; A Commemorative Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, November 1935-March 1936. London: Faber and Faber, 1936. Mentioned: cat. no. 166
    Sirén, Osvald. A History of Early Chinese Art. London: E. Benn, Limited, 1929. Reproduced: pl. 101
    Kümmel, Otto. Chinesische Kunst; zweihundert Hauptwerke der Ausstellung der Gesellschaft für Ostasiatische Kunst in der Preussischen Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 1929, herausgegeben von Otto Kümmel. Berlin: B. Cassirer, 1930. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 21 and pl. XXXI
    d'Ardenne de Tizac, H. La sculpture chinoise. Paris: G. Van Oest, 1931. Reproduced: pl. XXXIII
    Umehara, Sueji 梅原末治. ŌBei shūcho Shina kodō seika [歐米蒐儲支那古銅精華 = Selected relics of ancient Chinese bronzes from collections in Europe and America]. Ōsaka: Yamanaka Shōkai, 1933. Reproduced: vol. III, pl. 212
    Salles, Georges, and Madeleine David. Bronzes chinois des dynasties Tcheou, Tsʻin & Han. Paris, France: Musée de l'Orangerie, 1934. cat. no. 397
    Vignier, Charles. Notes inédites, "l'Exposition de Bronzes Chinois," Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, 1934. Revue des arts asiatiques vol. VIII, no. III. Reproduced: pl. XLII
    Umehara, Sueji 梅原末治. Sengoku shiki dôki no kenkyu [戰國式銅器の研究 = Étude des bronzes des royaumes combattants]. Kyôto: Tôhô bunka gakuin Kyôto kenkyûjo, 1936. Reproduced: Pls. 92 and 94
    Karlgren, Bernhard. "New Studies on Chinese Bronzes." Bulletin, vol. 9 Stockholm, 1937. Reproduced: pl. LIX, 2 and LX, 2
    Rong, Geng 容庚 [Jung Keng]. Shang Zhou yi qi tong kao [商周彝器通考 = The Bronzes of Shang and Chou]. [Beiping]: Hafo Yanjing xue she, 1941. Reproduced: Pl. 400
    Sirén, Osvald. Kinas konst under tre årtusenden. Stockholm: Natur och kultur, 1942. Reproduced: pl. 48-C
    Visser, H. F. E. Asiatic Art in Private Collections of Holland and Belgium. Amsterdam: "De Spieghel" Pub. Co, 1948. Reproduced: pl. 27, no. 29
    Weber, Charles D. “Chinese Pictorial Bronze Vessels of the Late Chou Period. Part III.” Artibus Asiae 29, no. 2/3 (1967): 115–192. Reproduced: www.jstor.org
    Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1975.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 63, no. 2 (February 1976): 31–71. Mentioned: no. 177, pp. 33, 71; Reproduced: no. 177, p. 55 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 326 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 9 archive.org
    Eskenazi, Giuseppe, and Hajni Elias. A Dealer's Hand: The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi. London, England: Scala, 2012. Mentioned: p. 32; Reproduced: p. 33
  • Ancient Chinese bronzes from the Stoclet and Wessén Collections. Eskenazi Ltd., London, England (June 11-July 12, 1975).
    International Exhibition of Chinese Art. Burlington House, Royal Academy of Arts, London, England (November 1935-March 1936).
    Bronzes Chinois. Musée de l'Orangerie. Paris, France (May-June 1934).
    Chinesische Kunst: zweihundert Hauptwerke der Ausstellung der Gesellschaft für Ostasiatische Kunst [Chinese art; two hundred main works from the exhibition of the Society for East Asian Art]. Der Preussischen Akademie der Künste [Prussian Academy of Arts], Berlin, Germany (1929).
  • {{cite web|title=Hu (Jar)|url=false|author=|year=481–221 BCE|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1975.62