{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O138325"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O138325/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EJ2180/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EJ2180/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EJ2180","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JV9575","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O138325/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O138325","accessionNumber":"M.6:1,2-1935","objectType":"Wine jar","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"All ancient Chinese bronze vessels had a specific name. This one, from which wine would have been ladled out, is called a 'you'.","physicalDescription":"of 'you' form","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze, cast","categories":[{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"}],"styles":[{"text":"Shang","id":"AAT18356"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2010EJ2180","2017JV9575"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"44","id":"THES49802"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"44","id":"THES49802"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Wine jar","id":""}],[{"text":"Lid","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"China","id":"x29398"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1200 BC-1050 BC","earliest":"-1200-01-01","latest":"-1050-01-01"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with Art Fund support, the Vallentin Bequest, Sir Percival David and the Universities China Committee","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"34.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"to top of handle","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"29.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This bronze wine vessel belonged to William Cleverley Alexander (1840-1916), a wealthy banker and noted collector of Japanese and Chinese art as well as an early patron of the artist James McNeill Whistler. Alexander was a member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club in London and showed the vessel in an exhibition of Chinese Art held at the club in 1915. After Alexander’s death the object was acquired by George Eumorfopoulos (1862-1939), another major and influential collector of East Asian art. The V&A acquired part of his collection, including this vessel, in 1935.\r\n\r\nThe wine vessel was also much admired by the artist and critic Roger Fry (1866-1934). He had a particular interest in Chinese art which he felt embodied the qualities of refinement and abstraction he valued in modern art. In one of the lectures delivered when Slade Professor at Cambridge University, Fry declared this vessel a ‘masterpiece of design in which every proportion surprises us by its perfect fitness…. We no longer feel inclined to talk of barbarism rather of a naïve sensibility heightened by conscious aesthetic purpose.’ (Published in Last Lectures, Cambridge University Press, 1939, p.108-9)\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"W. Zhou You; Met, China, vess/cont/holders\n\nMet, China, vess/cont/holders","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"<i>Catalogue of a Collection of objects of Chinese art</i>, London, Private Printing for the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1915","id":"AUTH357078"},"details":"frontispiece","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"<i>Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-6</i>, London : Royal Academy of Arts, 1935","id":"AUTH356076"},"details":"213","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Lidded wine vessel (you) \r\nWestern Zhou dynasty\r\n1200-1050 BC\r\n\r\nAll ancient bronze vessels had a specific name. This one, from which wine would have been ladled out, is called a you.\r\n\r\nCast bronze\r\nMuseum no. M.6-1935\r\nFrom the Eumorfopoulos collection, purchased with the assistance of The Art Fund, the Vallentin Bequest, Sir Percival David and the Universities China Committee [Art Fund logo]","date":{"text":"2007","earliest":"2007-01-01","latest":"2007-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["M.6:1-1935","M.6:2-1935"],"accessionNumberNum":"6","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1935,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Wine jar","Lid"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-05-15","recordCreationDate":"2007-08-09","availableToBook":false}}