EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC

Details

A BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, GUI
EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC
An eight-character inscription on the interior reads shu xiang zuo fu gui bao zun yi (This precious sacrificial vessel was made by Shu Xiang for Father Gui).
11 1/8 in. (28.4 cm.) across handles

Provenance

J. T. Tai & Co., New York, 1965.
Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987) Collections, New York.
Acquired from the above in 2000.

Literature

Liu Tizhi, Xiaojiao jingge jinwen taben (Rubbings of Archaic Bronze Inscriptions at the Xiaojiaojingge Studio), 1935, vol. 5, p. 26, no. 5.
J.C. Ferguson, Lidai zhulu jijin mu (Bronze Inscriptions from Previous Publications), wine vessel, container, zun, Beijing, 1938, p. 104.
N. Barnard and Cheung Kwong-Yue, Rubbings and Hand Copies of Bronze Inscriptions in Chinese, Japanese, European, American, and Australasian Collections, Taipei, 1978, no. 543.
M. Hayashi, In Shu jidai seidoki no kenkyu (In Shu seidoki soran ichi) (Conspectus of Yin and Zhou Bronzes), Tokyo, 1984, vol. 2, pl. 88, gui no. 59.
R. Poor, Bronze Ritual Vessels of Ancient China (Slide Lectures), New York, 1968.
J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Washington, D. C., 1990, pp. 350-51, no. 35.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The cicadas, finely cast in bold intaglio line under the handles, is an unusual feature.

In her discussion of the current gui in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Cambridge, 1990, pp. 350-51, no. 35, J. Rawson notes, “whereas the form and disposition of the motifs are Shang in origin, the smooth roundness of the relief is a Zhou characteristic.” Similar rounded relief can be seen on the gui illustrated ibid., pp. 352-53, no. 36, and on the De gui in the Winthrop Collection, Harvard University Art Museums, illustrated p. 354, fig. 36.1.

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 366L82 is consistent with the dating of this lot.

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