A RARE LARGE BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, LEI

EARLY SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 8TH-7TH CENTURY BC

Details

A RARE LARGE BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, LEI
EARLY SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 8TH-7TH CENTURY BC
Flat-cast with six bands of interlocked horned dragons with a single boss for the eye, alternating with bands of overlapping scale pattern and sawtooth bands with small C-scrolls, all below the waisted neck and widely everted rim, with a pair of handles formed by horned dragons with curved fangs emerging from the mouths of dragon-fish
17 7/8 in. (45.4 cm.) across handles, two Japanese wood boxes, one inscribed by Shushin in 1924

Provenance

Private collection, Japan, acquired prior to 1924.

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Lot Essay

A bronze lei dated to the late Spring and Autumn/early Warring States period of similar proportions and with similar bands of decoration, but of smaller size (33.6 cm. diam.), was excavated in 1980 in Huailai Ganzibao, Hebei province. See Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 15 - Beifang minzu, Beijing, 1995, p. 131, no. 194. See, also, the similar lei of approximately the same size in the Qing Court collection illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 27 - Bronze Ritual Vessels and Musical Instruments, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 209, no. 133.

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