Gu (Wine Vessel)

Label

How do we name ancient objects? Most of the titles for the artworks on view in this gallery are descriptive, meaning that they were assigned by researchers based on the appearance or function of an object, not given by the artist or maker. The term gu was similarly assigned to this type of object long after its original creation and use. Li Gonglin, an 11th-century artist and collector, called this type of goblet with its long, slender neck and wide bell opening a gu because it holds approximately two pints of liquid, a unit of measurement called a gu.

This style of vessel, used for wine, was popular during the Shang Dynasty, and many examples come from tomb excavations. While the curving, repetitive adornment may look purely abstract, it is actually a decorative motif called taotie representing the front-facing, symmetrical mask of a mythological creature. Can you find the face? (Hint: Look for eyes or horns!)

From the 2024 exhibition Ancient Narratives: A New Look at Old Art, curated by Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections

Course History

CHIN 52, Readings in Classical Chinese: Daoist Philosophical Texts, Sarah Allan, Spring 2015

SART 17.08, Digital Drawing, Karol Kawiaka, Fall 2020

COCO 26.01, What's in Your Toolbox?, Heidi Denzel and Mokhtar Bouba, Fall 2022

COCO 26.01, What's in Your Toolbox?, Heidi Denzel and Mokhtar Bouba, Fall 2022

Anthropology 3.01, Introduction to Anthropology, Charis Ford Morrison Boke, Summer 2023

Italian 3.01, Introductory Italian III, Floriana Ciniglia, Winter 2024

Religion 4.01, Jewish Studies 4.01, Religion of Israel: Hebrew Bible, Susan Ackerman, Winter 2024

Studio Art 16.01, Sculpture I, Matt Siegle, Winter 2024

Anthropology 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Spring 2024

Geography 21.01, International Studies 18.01, Global Health and Society, Anne Sosin, Spring 2024

Exhibition History

Ancient and Premodern Global Cultures, Gene Y. Kim Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019.

Beskind Chinese Bronzes, Spaulding Cases, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 1973.

Chinese Art from the College Collection, Barrows Windows and Strauss Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 30-September 4, 1978.

Director's Choice, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 10-July 10, 1966.

Far Eastern Bronzes, Barrows Windows, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 24, 1976-January 16, 1977.

Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 22, 1994-June 22, 1997.

Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 16, 1997-January 21, 2008.

Global Cultures at the Hood: Ancient to Premodern, Gene Y. Kim Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26. 2019.

In conjunction with the New England Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, Harrington Silver Display Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 1-11, 1976.

Opening Exhibition of the Christian A. Johnson Music and Arts Center, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, October 11-November 3, 1968.

The Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 2008-September 28, 2014.

Publication History

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 70, ill. plate no. 1.

Provenance

Collection of Dorothy Marion Levitt Beskind (1917-2014) and David Herbert Beskind (1915-2015), New York, New York, date unknown; given to present collection, 1957.

This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.

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