A BRONZE WINE VESSEL AND COVER, YOU

SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY

Details

A BRONZE WINE VESSEL AND COVER, YOU
Shang/Early Western Zhou Dynasty
Of flattened, globular shape standing on a high flared foot encircled by two bowstring bands, the shoulder crisply cast with a band of taotie masks in thread relief interrupted by two raised animal masks and a slightly squared bail handle with a pair of bovine mask terminals, the cover with a conforming band of decoration below a flower-form knop, the interior of the cover and interior base of the vessel cast with a six-character inscription, the patina an attractive green-gray color
12½in. (31.7cm.) high with handles

Further details

See illustration and detail of mark inside cover

Lot Essay

Although no identical you appears to be published, a number of similar examples exist, differing in either the band of decoration at the foot, the shoulder or in having twisted-rope bail handles without mask terminals. See Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Vessels from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, 1990, pp. 496-501, figs. 68.2, 68.3, 68.4, 68.5, 68.6 and 69 where the author discusses the evolution of the form. See, also, Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1987, p. 402, fig. 71.1 for a you from Liaoning Kezuo Shanwanzi, after Wenwu, 1977:12, pls. 1:1, 1:3, p. 30, fig. 28; and Helmut Brinker, Bronzen aus dem alten China, Zurich, 1976, p. 65, pl. 26 for an example in the Museum Rietberg