A RARE BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, LI
A RARE BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, LI
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A RARE BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, LI

EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD (770-476 BC)

Details
A RARE BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, LI
EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD (770-476 BC)
Supported on three conical feet, the vessel is heavily cast with rounded shoulders adorned with a band of stylised dragons. The rim bears an eight-character inscription reading ‘mother of Ni Bo [illegible character] commissioned this sacrificial li’.
6 1⁄2 in.(16.5 cm) high, box
Provenance
Collection of Umberto Draghi, Belgium
Purchased from Gisèle Cröes, 23 April 1985
Sold at Christie’s Paris, 13 December 2017, lot 138
Literature
Wu Zhenfeng, Shang Zhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng san bian, Shanghai, 2020, vol. 1, pp. 342-342, no. 0307

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Lot Essay

Several related examples of this type have been published. See Shang Chou Dynasty Bronze V, Li Vessels, vol. 5, Taipei, 1990, for three excavated li with similar stylised scroll beneath an everted rim. The first, illustrated p. 143, no. 155, was excavated in Shandong province in 1984; another example with a cover was also excavated in Shandong in 1977, and is illustrated on p. 144, no. 158; the third, excavated in Jiangsu province in 1977, is illustrated on p. 144, no. 157.

The underside of the Japanese wood box cover bears an inscription by Renqiu Xueren, the stuio name of Yuzo Sugimura (1900-1978), who was a renowned Chinese art scholar and a former Managing Director of Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo.

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