LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

This finely cast gu is associated with the 'mature' style of gu from Anyang (late 13th to early 12th century BC), which all exhibit the same distinctive structure and the same decorative sequence of motifs.
Two bronze gu with very similar cast decoration, but incorporating inverted taotie masks set within the blades on the neck, are illustrated by R.W. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1987, pp. 248-53, nos. 36 and 37.