Lot 90
90
A PAIR OF ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSELS, GU
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus bu… Read more BRONZES THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN GENTLEMAN
A PAIR OF ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSELS, GU

SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH CENTURY BC

Details
A PAIR OF ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSELS, GU
Shang Dynasty, 13th century BC
Each of slender shape, the spreading base cast with two taotie masks divided by vertical notched flanges, below a frieze of bird motifs and a double bowstring band interrupted by two cruciform piercings, the central section with taotie and flanges, the flaring neck with a band of birds below leiwen-filled blades, the bronze with a mottled olive and greyish-olive patina and areas of green encrustation, upper body restorations
11 in. (28 cm.) high
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

Similar gu are illustrated by Rene-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argence in Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection, Japan, 1977, pl. XX (left); by Charles Fabens Kelly and Ch'en Meng-chia, Chinese Bronzes from the Buckingham Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1946, pp. 32-33, pl. XII; and by William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 20, although the flanges on this gu are not so prominent. Compare also the example sold in our New York Rooms, 25 March 1998, lot 32

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