Yu

Inscriptions

Inscription on inside of lid

Label

When the Hopkins Center for the Arts opened in 1962, it included the first purpose-built art gallery spaces at Dartmouth. The installations featured objects from new gifts to the collection, including many of the objects donated by Dorothy and Herbert Beskind. The bronze yu—a ritual wine vessel—and zhong—a bell used during court religious ceremonies—were both frequently on display in the 1960s and 1970s. The head of a bodhisattva—a being on a path of enlightenment who is progressing toward becoming a buddha—was also on view in the Hopkins Center before the creation of the Hood Museum of Art. With the recent addition of a curator of Asian art to the curatorial team, the collection of Asian art continues to grow through acquisitions, including a recent gift of sixteen ancient Korean ceramics.

From the 2025 exhibition, From Mastodon to Mosaic: Building an Academic Art Collection in America, curated by Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections

Course History

History 10.02, Archival Research, Julia Rabig, Summer 2025

History 72.04, Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages 64.16, China to 1800, Yi (Luis) Lu, Fall 2025

Writing 5.20, Foundations of Dartmouth: Samson Occom, Edward Mitchell, and the History and Cultures of Native American, African American, and "Minority" Students at Dartmouth College, Doug Moody 1, Fall 2025

Exhibition History

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

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

From Mastadon to Mosaic: Building an Academic Art Collection in America, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 14, 2025 - Fall 2026

The Beauty of the Bronze: Selections from the Hood Museum of Art, Gene Y. Kim Class of 1985 Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 13, 2012-March 18, 2014.

Provenance

Dorothy Marion Levitt Beskind (1917-2014) and David Herbert Beskind (1915-2015), Class of 1936, New York, New York; given to present collection, 1959.

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Subjects