Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

The Barlow Collection

A select catalogue of the Barlow collection of Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades by the University of Sussex (published Sussex, 2006).

The Barlow Collection by the University of Sussex

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Ritual wine vessel, or you, with taotie pattern and handles in the form of animal heads

  • loan
  • Literature notes

    The vessel has a pear-shaped body, wide, nearly straight neck, high flared foot and two loops on either side fitted with a curved swing handle with animal-head terminals. The domed cover has a tall cylindrical section to hold it in place and a flared ring knob, pierced with two holes. Cover and shoulder are decorated with a matching band of taotie design, with four masks, the front and back ones centred on raised flanges. The masks are highly stylized, with high-relief eyes and other features dissolved into curl motifs, arranged in a triple band and enclosed between ring borders. There is further a raised line above the band on the cover and below the one on the shoulder. The foot shows a simpler scroll border with motifs arranged in a double band, interspersed with four raised eye-like bosses. The handle is decorated with elongated hooked motifs and bosses, the animal heads have short thick horns with side hooks, long pointed ears, and eyes, skin folds and muzzle rendered in relief. A four-pictograph inscription is cast on the base inside the vessel and repeated, differently arranged, inside the cover. The piece has a thick patina in different tones of green, with patches of malachite around the inscription inside the cover.

    The inscriptions consist of the pictograph of a kneeling woman and another in form of a square and two triangles, together with the characters fu xin (‘father xin’).
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia China (north) (place of creation)
    Date
    11th - 10th century BC (1100 - 901 BC)
    Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050 - c. 771 BC)
    Material and technique
    bronze, with traces of malachite
    Dimensions
    without lid 25.3 x 15 x 13 cm sight size (height x width x depth)
    lid 7.6 cm (height)
    lid 8 cm (diameter)
    Material index
    Technique index
    formed cast
    Object type index
    No. of items
    2
    Credit line
    Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust.
    Accession no.
    LI1301.10
  • Further reading

    University of Sussex, and Arts and Humanities Research Council, The Barlow Collection, supervised by Regina Krahl, Maurice Howard, and Aiden Leeves (Sussex: University of Sussex, 2006), no. B12

Glossary

taotie

  • taotie

    Stylized monster mask decoration with prominent eyes and scrolling horns. The motif has been known since the 1100s. Its significance remains mysterious.

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • The Barlow Collection by the University of Sussex

    The Barlow Collection

    The vessel has a pear-shaped body, wide, nearly straight neck, high flared foot and two loops on either side fitted with a curved swing handle with animal-head terminals. The domed cover has a tall cylindrical section to hold it in place and a flared ring knob, pierced with two holes. Cover and shoulder are decorated with a matching band of taotie design, with four masks, the front and back ones centred on raised flanges. The masks are highly stylized, with high-relief eyes and other features dissolved into curl motifs, arranged in a triple band and enclosed between ring borders. There is further a raised line above the band on the cover and below the one on the shoulder. The foot shows a simpler scroll border with motifs arranged in a double band, interspersed with four raised eye-like bosses. The handle is decorated with elongated hooked motifs and bosses, the animal heads have short thick horns with side hooks, long pointed ears, and eyes, skin folds and muzzle rendered in relief. A four-pictograph inscription is cast on the base inside the vessel and repeated, differently arranged, inside the cover. The piece has a thick patina in different tones of green, with patches of malachite around the inscription inside the cover.

    The inscriptions consist of the pictograph of a kneeling woman and another in form of a square and two triangles, together with the characters fu xin (‘father xin’).
Notice

Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.

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