AN ARCHAIC BRONZE FOOD VESSEL, GUI

WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY

Details

AN ARCHAIC BRONZE FOOD VESSEL, GUI
Western Zhou Dynasty
The compressed body cast in high relief on each side of the shoulder with a small animal mask centering a band of small compressed dragons and whorl-decorated roundels, within single and double bowstring bands interrupted by a pair of loop handles issuing from a dragon head and with a dragon-form tab pendent below, raised on a pedestal foot encircled by a band of pairs of dragons facing a simplified mask, within single bowstring borders, with a six-character inscription on the base of the interior, with mottled olive and gray patina
9in. (24.7cm.) across handles

Sale room notice

The provenance is the Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Czuczka Collection. The pictograph may be translated as: 'The honorable Tiao ji made this precious gui.'

Lot Essay

The same border of dragons and whorl-decorated roundels appears on a gui with matching foot illustrated by Bernhard Karlgren, "Bronzes in the Hellstrom Collection", B.M.F.E.A., No. 20, Stockholm, 1948, pl. 53, no. 2. Compare, also, the gui with similar dragon and whorl bands on a ground of leiwen included in the exhibition, Bronzen aus dem alten China, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 1975, Catalogue no. 12

An analysis by Conservation and Technical Services Ltd., University of London, is consistent with the dating of this lot