RARE INSCRIBED AND DATED ARCHAISTIC BRONZE VESSEL, FU
YUAN DYNASTY, DATED TO THE XINYOU YEAR OF THE ZHIZHI REIGN, 1321AD
元 1321年 銅簠款識: 至治辛酉中慶路文廟禮器教敦趙善坤正錄孫彬杜餘慶記of rectangular form, with wide flared sides raised on a high gently splayed foot with cut-out aprons, both narrower sides set with a pair of loop handles issuing from mythical animal heads, decorated around the sides with bands of geometric motifs, wider sides with two small applied animal-mask plaques, the base with a panel reading Zhizhi xinyou Zhongqinglu wenmiao liqi jiaodun Zhao Shankun zhenglu Sun Bin Du Yuqing ji
35.5cm wide; 3278g
From the collection of George Forrest (13 March 1873 - 5 January 1932). George Forrest was an important Scottish botanist born in Falkirk. In 1904, he was sponsored by a horticulturist and cotton broker- Arthur Kilpin Bulley (1861-1942), to embark on an expedition to China's then-remote southwestern province of Yunnan, in search of plants new to horticulture in Europe, particularly species of rhododendron. Altogether, Forrest made seven trips to the region, ranging as far afield as upper Burma, eastern Tibet and Sichuan province. In 1932, he passed away just outside of the town of Tengchong, previously known as Tengyue or Tengyueh.His Asian Art collection was partially donated to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. This item was on loan for decades, loan number A.L.331.4, with an associated museum label tied to one handle inscribed ‘Loan 331/4’, further with a museum paperboard label with the information of the item, stated as an incense burner, obtained at Talifu, Yunnan, ‘Lent by Mr. George Forrest, Edinburgh, 1929. Loan 331.4’, deaccessioned in 2023, thence by direct descent. The old photograph shows Mr Forrest outside the China Inland Mission Moongate in Dali, taken around 1905.We would like to express our gratitude to 'George Forrest / Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’ for providing the old photograph and its information. 
The inscriptions on the base record that this vessel was made in the year of Xinyou of the Zhizhi reign, corresponding to 1321AD during the Yuan dynasty. It was dedicated to the Confucious Temple located at Zhongqing Street, traceable to the still-standing Confucious Temple built in 1302AD in Anning county, Kunming city, Yunnan. While archaistic bronze ritual vessels are not uncommon, bronze ritual vessels documented to have been made for use in local academies and temples such as the present example are extremely rare. Compare to a highly similar rare inscribed and dated archaistic bronze vessel, fu, Yuan dynasty, dated to the Bingzi year of the Zhiyuan reign (1276 or 1336), formerly in the collection of Dr David Ho, sold at Sotheby's London, 3 November 2021, lot 121. Also see two documented bronze ritual vessels, fu, both dated to the Yuan dynasty, in the collection of Shanghai Museum.