A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE TWO-PART STEAMER, XIAN

WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY

Details

A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE TWO-PART STEAMER, XIAN
Western Zhou Dynasty
Comprising a lower tripod bowl of li shape raised on three legs, decorated with taotie masks and applied with two arched handles, and an upper bowl with flaring rim and two free-standing dragon handles, the base perforated with cruciform steam vents, each vessel decorated below the rim with a shallow-relief band of scrolling birds on a leiwen ground, the bronze heavily patinated with areas of malachite encrustation
14in. (35.6cm.) high

Lot Essay

Two-part steamers are rare, and other examples of this particular shape do not appear to have been published. Compare the example illustrated in the Shanghai Museum Ancient Chinese Bronze Gallery Catalogue, p. 24, dated Late Western Zhou. Compare, also, the yan, but with integral upper and lower parts, illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1990, vol. IIB, pp. 335-343, figs. 31-33.