EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY

Details

AN ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSEL AND COVER, YOU
early western zhou dynasty
The squat and flattened pear-shaped body cast with a solid loop handle decorated with a cicada motif and elaborate horned mask terminals covering the plain loops at the shoulders dividing a band of characteristic open-mouthed serpentine dragons looking backwards on a leiwen ground embellished with a taotie mask on each side above the spreading foot with a similar stylised zoomorphic band, the waisted domed cover with a band of serpentine dragons below a knop finial, the interior of the vessel and cover with the same eight-character inscription, the grey-green patina with areas of azurite and malachite encrustation
11¾in. (30cm.) high, wood stand

Lot Essay

See the similar vessels illustrated by Koop, Early Chinese Bronzes, 1924, pl.11; by Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes from the Victoria and Albert Museum, pl.16; by Kelley and Ch'en, Chinese Bronzes from the Buckingham Collection, Catalogue, pl.XXVII, with ram-head terminals instead of bovine ones and a different finial; by Lefebre d'Argence, The Hans Popper Collection, Catalogue, vol.I, pl.XVIII & XIX; by Karlgren, BMFEA, 1937, no.9, pl.XLIV, no.544; and by Li Xuedong, Zhonguo Meishu Quanji, no.4, p.63, though this example has no mask terminals.
See also the Rockefeller Collection you, illustrated by Lee in the Catalogue of Asian Art, Asia Society, 1975, p.36, no.19, dated 'circa 1027 BC', and the you illustrated in Chugoku Kudai No Bijutsu, no.33, with very similar dragon designs.
Other similar examples were sold in these Rooms, 3 December 1963, lot 172; 11 May 1965, lot 102; 4 November 1969, lot 16; and 10 December 1990, lot 2.

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