Lot 2904
2904
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU
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A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU
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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT ASIAN COLLECTION
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU

WARRING STATES PERIOD (475-221 BC)

Details
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU
WARRING STATES PERIOD (475-221 BC)
The vessel is raised on a spreading rectangular pedestal foot and cast in relief with panels of tight abstract curl patterns arranged in five registers and bordered by bands of copper inlay, the narrow sides similarly decorated and applied with taotie masks suspending ring handles, all below a dogtooth band on the waisted neck and a copper band on the flared mouth, covered with light green encrustations.
13 1/4 in. (33.5 cm.) high
Provenance
Collection of Captain and Mrs Vivian Bulkeley-Johnson, Oxfordshire (Captain Vivian Bulkeley-Johnson, 1891-1968)
The Mount Trust collection of Chinese Art (established in 1968 on the death of Captain Vivian Bulkeley-Johnson), on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, August 1969 - May 1975
The Bella and P. P. Chiu Collection, Hong Kong and San Francisco, since the 1980s
Sold at Sotheby's London, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, including a Selection from the Bella and P. P. Chiu Collection of Ancient Bronzes, 7 June 2000, lot 14
Mr and Mrs S. Feinberg, Boston, November 2000, acquired with Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2000, thence by descent within the family
Important Asian private collection, acquired from Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2019
Literature
William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, p.66, pl. 67b
John Ayers, The Mount Trust Collection of Chinese Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1970, no.6 (fig. 1)
Jessica Rawson, The Bella and P. P. Chiu Collection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1998, no.36 (fig. 2)
Eskenazi Ltd., Room for Study: Fifty Scholar's Objects, London, 31 October - 29 November 2019, no.13
Exhibited
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, The Mount Trust Collection of Chinese Art, 20 January 1970 - March 1970
And thereafter onto Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield
Further details
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU
CHINA, WARRING STATES PERIOD (475-221 BC)

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Lot Essay

Known as a bianhu, or “flattened hu”, this impressive wine jar represents a new interpretation of the hu jar introduced in the fifth or early fourth century BC, during the Warring States period (c. 475 BC–221 BC); in fact, it would come to rank among the most iconic vessels of the period. Not only is the shape new, but so is the crisply-cast decorative scheme, which features panels of abstract decoration as well as inlays of copper and silver. The virtually identical bianhu jar excavated at Shangcunling, Sanmenxia, Henan province, provides archaeological confirmation of this jar’s Warring States-period origins. Moreover, this impressive vessel has been published by such eminent specialists in Chinese art as William Watson (1917–2007), John Ayers (1922–2021), and Jessica Rawson, and it has passed through the hands of such distinguished collectors as Captain Vivian Frances Bulkeley-Johnson (1891–1968) of Oxfordshire, UK, who assembled the Mount Trust Collection, and, more recently, of Bella and P.P. Chiu of Hong Kong and San Francisco (Bella Ma Chiu), who formed the Shanhailou Collection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes. With kinship to archaeologically attested vessels, with an impressive record of scholarly publications, and with a distinguished provenance, this bianhu truly is a rare treasure.

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