AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL VESSEL, POU

ARCHAIC BRONZES OTHER PROPERTIES

Details

AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL VESSEL, POU
SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH/11TH CENTURY B.C.

The bulbous body cast with a band of three taotie masks formed by confronted dragons with bulbous eyes flanking a narrow flange situated directly below a raised taotie mask separating further pairs of dragons on the band above, and with a band of addorsed, long-tailed birds with back-turned heads encircling the flared, pedestal foot, all on leiwen grounds, the short, tapering neck cast with a pair of bowstring bands below the everted rim, the gray surface with a pale green patina, with some brighter green encrustation on the interior, some restoration--13 in. (33cm.) diam.

Lot Essay

Compare a similar pou from Shaanxi province illustrated in Bronzes of Shang and Zhou Dynasties Unearthed in Shaanxi Province, vol. I, p. 107; the example in the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, illustrated by Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes, vol. I, pl. 57; and another in the Seligman Collection Catalogue, pl. A 12