Discovered at Anyang, Henan province, ꦦduring the Republic period (by repute).

Collection of Huang Jun (1880-1952).

Private Collection.

Sotheby's London, 11th December 1984, lot 8.

J.T. Tai & Co., New York.

Sotheby's New York, 22nd March 2011, lot 45.

傳民國時期河南安陽出土

黃濬（1880-1952）收藏

私人收藏

倫敦蘇富比1984年12月11日，編號8

戴潤齋，紐約

紐約蘇富比2011年3月22日，編號45

Huang Jun, Yezhong pianyu sanji [Feathers from Yezhong series III], vol. 1, Beijing, 1942,💯 p. 20.

Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIꦉB, Washington, D.C., 1🐟990, p. 628, fig. 100.3.

Jia Wenzhong and Jia Shu, ed., Jijin cuiying Jiashi zhencang qingtongqi laozhaopian [Collection of 🍎old photographs of archaic bronzes. Old photographs of archaic bronzes from the Jia family collection], Beijing, 2016, no. 209.

Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng xubian [Sequel to the compendium of inscriptions and images o🌱f bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties], vol. 3, Shanghai, 2016, no. 0797.

黃濬，《鄴中片羽三集》，卷上，北京，1942年，頁20

傑西卡•羅森，《Western Zhou Ritu✱al Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections》，卷IIB，華盛頓，1990年，頁628，圖100.3

賈文忠及賈樹，《吉金萃影•賈氏珍藏青銅器老照片》，北京，2016，編號209

吳鎮烽，《商周青銅器銘文暨圖像集成續編》，卷3，上海，2016年，編號0797

This bronze hu, flanked by two large handles decorated with bovine masks, is unique. The shape of this vessel resembles a zhi but of much larger size and with the addition of the handles. This bronze form is so exceedingly rare that comparable examples are difficult to find. One vessel, of smaller size and slightly later date, has been published together with the present piece in Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Washington, D.C., 1990, pl. 100. The Sackler vessel is similarly cast with two handles adorned with animal heads, but has large taotie masks on its body and a six-character inscription at the bottom. According to Rawson, another two-handled example is illustrated in the catalogue of the Port Arthur Museum, Dalian, Liaoning province (Ryojun Hakubutsukan zuroku / An Illustrated Catalogue of the Objects in the Museum at Port Arthur, Tokyo, 1943, pl. 15:3).

For bronze zhi of similar form and decoration but of much smaller size and lacking handles, see one preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (accession no. ), attributed to the late Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC), cast with two raised fillets on its neck and an inscription at the base, illustrated in the Museum’s publication Rituals Cast in Brilliance, Chinese Bronzes through the Ages, Taipei, 2015, p. 39.