A BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD WINE VESSEL AND COVER, TILIANHU

HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 220)

Details

A BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD WINE VESSEL AND COVER, TILIANHU
HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 220)
The broad pear-shaped body is raised on three cabriole legs and has a pair of loop handles on the shoulder which suspend loose rings that are attached to links suspended from the dragon-head terminals of the yoke handle. The slightly domed cover has a flat, pierced finial. There is extensive milky blue-green encrustation allover.
8½ in. (21.5 cm.) high with handle, Japanese wood box

Provenance

Kinpei Takeuchi (1873-1960).
Kyuichi Sano (1889-1977), acquired in Tokyo, 1950s.
Sano Art Museum, Mishima, Japan.

Literature

Sano Bijutsukan zohinsho, Sano Art Museum, 1986, p. 77, no. 103.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

A similar hu dated late Han dynasty, 2nd-1st century BC, is illustrated by C. Deydier, Les Bronzes Chinois, Paris, 1980, no. 81. Unlike the single, pierced, flat finial in the center of the cover of the present hu, the cover of the published vessel has three simplified animal-form rings spaced evenly near the edge, which would have functioned as supports when the cover was inverted.

More from Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

View All