AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND COVER, YOU

WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (1100-770 B.C.)

Details

AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND COVER, YOU
WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (1100-770 B.C.)
Cast with a pear-shaped body raised on a splayed foot, the neck encircled with two bow-string bands and two small animal head masks on either side of the body, interrupted by small loop handles attached to the arched handle with animal-mask terminals, the domed cover cast with two further bow-string bands and projecting tabs, cast further with a pictogram to the base of the interior of the body and cover, the surface with a yellowish-green patina
10 in. (25.4 cm.) high

Provenance

With John Sparks Ltd., London, 1958.
With Eskenazi Ltd., London, 1999.

Exhibited

Eskenazi Ltd., London, Ancient Chinese Bronze from an English Private Collection, 15 November - 4 December 1999.

Brought to you by

Caroline Allen

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Lot Essay

The interior of the vessel and cover cast with the same nine-part inscription of eight characters and 'clan sign', which read zuo zhong zi ri yi bao zun li

The last 'clan' pictogram has been found on other bronzes of other types. See an archaic bronze gui with the same 'clan' pictogram with four other characters reading zhong zi ri yi, illustrated in Chen Mengjia, A Corpus of Chinese Bronzes in American Collections, Tokyo, 1977, Vol.1, p. 230, no. 385.

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