A LARGE ARCHAIC BRONZE LIBATION VESSEL, YI

LATE WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY

细节
A LARGE ARCHAIC BRONZE LIBATION VESSEL, YI
late western zhou dynasty
The boat-shaped vessel with a curved spout cast with a loop handle formed as a two-horned beast and supported on four dragon-shaped feet, the handle and the body with an stylised bird-pattern band above horizontal grooved bands, the bronze with a brown patina and some malachite and darker encrustation
14½in. (37cm.) wide, wood stand
来源
Harcourt Johnson, purchased in June 1929 (50)

拍品专文

A similar ewer was sold in our New York Rooms, 21 September 1995, lot 132.
The yi was a water vessel which entered the bronze repertory during late Western Zhou and was often used together with the shallow pan for ritual cleansing of the hands, water from the yi being poured over the hands into the pan (J.So, op.cit., p.337). For related examples see J.Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes, fig.120.5, p.714; further J.So, op.cit., no.67, pp.336ff.; and the excavation report of the burial site of Lord Meng of Huang and his wife, Henan Province, Kaogu 1984/4, fig.9.6, p.318, with a similar band beneath the rim; cf. also the yi illustrated in the Yenching Journal of Chinese Studies, The Bronzes of Shang and Chou, vol.II, China, 1941, p.449, no.852; and The International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Catalogue, London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1935/6, no.82