Square vessel (gu)

Squared scroll and overlapping blade motifs encircle both the neck and the foot of this vessel while the belly is carved in moderately high relief with a taotie dissolving into addorsed (back to back) kui dragons and birds.

Such small-scale, loose copies of ancient bronze vessel shapes have been popular decorative items in curio cabinets since the eighteenth century, when they often appeared in paintings of interiors. The exaggerated proportions of this flattened gu (a ritual wine vessel in ancient times) as well as the fanciful rendering of the taotie, kui dragons, and birds on its belly, indicate either that a great deal of poetic license was granted the artisan or that a faithful reproduction was not the goal.