EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY BC

The single inscription cast in the interior rim of the current bronze vessel is in the form of a figure with three tufts or projections on its head. It is rendered 'xian' by Luo Zhenyu. This inscription can be found on several other bronze vessels dated to the Early Western Zhou period, such as that on a zun in the Arthur M. Sackler Collection illustrated by J. Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Vol. IIB, Washington D. C., 1990, p.552, no. 80. Collectively known as the Chen Chen vessels, these were thought to have been excavated in the tombs northeast of Luoyang at Mapo in Mangshan. Luoyang (Chengzhou) was the secondary capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and archaeological excavations have uncovered several foundries northeast of Luoyang in Beiyao Pangjiakou.

Compare to the Shang Dynasty li in the Sackler Collection, which is of an earlier date to the current example with its motifs more ambiguously arranged from the ground, illustrated by R. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington D. C., 1987, p. 476, no. 89. Another Shang Dynasty example in the Sze Yuan Tang Collection, sold by Christie's New York, 16 September 2010, lot 852, is cast with flanges and with unusual horned buffalo masks. Compare also to a li dated to the Middle Western Zhou Dynasty, illustrated in Shaanxi chutu Shang Zhou qingtong qi, vol. 3, Beijing, 1980, no. 55, which is also decorated with round-horned taotie masks, but with the decoration less defined.

A Technical Examination Report is available upon request.