LATE SHANG-EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY BC

Details

A VERY RARE BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND COVER, FANGYI
LATE SHANG-EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY BC
The vessel of slightly tapering rectangular shape is raised on a tall foot and is decorated around the neck with pairs of confronted birds centered on the two longer sides by a shallow, narrow flange and on the other two sides by an animal-mask handle suspending a loose ring. The foot is decorated with pairs of birds confronted on a small notch. The cover is similarly decorated below the faceted finial cast with taotie masks. Both the interior of the vessel and the cover are cast with a two-character clan sign reading geng ce. The bronze has light green and silvery-grey patina with areas of malachite encrustation.
11 ¾ in. (30 cm.) high

Provenance

James Monroe McAdams, Mobile, Alabama.
Important Early Chinese Dynastic Bronzes Collected by the Late James Monroe McAdams; Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., 4 November 1948, lot 162.
Millicent Rogers (1902-1953) Collection.

Lot Essay

It is very rare to find fangyi with handles. A fangyi of very similar form and decoration, but lacking the handles, in the Saint Louis Art Museum, is illustrated by S. Owyoung in Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, 1997, pp. 84-86, no. 19, where the author notes “the style of thin ribbons derived from earlier bronze design, specifically Loehr Styles II and III, indicate a late Shang or transitional late Shang-early Western Zhou date for the vessel”.

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