A LARGE BRONZE STORAGE VESSEL, HU

VARIOUS PROPERTIES

Details

A LARGE BRONZE STORAGE VESSEL, HU
WESTERN HAN DYNASTY

Heavely cast, of broad pear form raised on a spreading cylindrical foot and tapering to a short, waisted neck with galleried rim, cast in low relief with a pair of taotie mask and loose ring handles at the high shoulder and a series of four plain raised bands encircling the body, with extensive traces of malachite and cuprite encrustation, with one incised and two cast archaistic inscriptions, patch repairs
18½in. (47cm.) high

Lot Essay

The cast inscription appears to refer to the weight and capacity of the vessel, with one line possibly reading shisan dou zhong ("thirteen catties? in weight"). The incised inscription is indecipherable

Compare the similar hu, dated to the Warring States Period, in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated by Minao Hayashi, A Study of Spring and Autumn and Warring States Bronzes, Tokyo, 1989, vol. 3, p. 116, fig. 173; one in the Museum of Eastern Art, Oxford, illustrated by William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, fig. 776; and another illustrated by Jessica Rawson, The Bella and P. P. Chiu Collection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1988, no. 38