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Lot Essay
See J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1990, p. 608-10, for a discussion of a Middle Western Zhou hu of almost identical size (41.4 cm.), exhibiting the same raised bands separating the body of the vessel into quarters, which the author notes are intended to simulate leather strapwork.
Also compare a pair of larger (55 cm.) hu and covers from the Morse Collection, included in the exhibition Spirit and Ritual, 1 July-5 September 1982, nos. 20-1, where they are dated to the late Western Zhou period (9th-8th century BC). The Morse hu have very similar zoomorphic decoration seen on both the neck and quadrants of the body of the present hu, and share in common similar animal-head handles, although the Morse examples suspend loose rings.
A fourth hu, also with closely related decoration, although of a smaller size (40.6 cm.), dated to the early Spring and Autumn period, was excavated in Xintai, Shandong province in the Guangxu period (1875-1908), and is now in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtonqi Quanji - Dong Zhou (3), Beijing, 1997, p. 86, no. 83.
Also compare a pair of larger (55 cm.) hu and covers from the Morse Collection, included in the exhibition Spirit and Ritual, 1 July-5 September 1982, nos. 20-1, where they are dated to the late Western Zhou period (9th-8th century BC). The Morse hu have very similar zoomorphic decoration seen on both the neck and quadrants of the body of the present hu, and share in common similar animal-head handles, although the Morse examples suspend loose rings.
A fourth hu, also with closely related decoration, although of a smaller size (40.6 cm.), dated to the early Spring and Autumn period, was excavated in Xintai, Shandong province in the Guangxu period (1875-1908), and is now in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtonqi Quanji - Dong Zhou (3), Beijing, 1997, p. 86, no. 83.