Lot 37
37
A BRONZE BIRD-FORM POURING VESSEL

MING/EARLY QING DYNASTY

Details
A BRONZE BIRD-FORM POURING VESSEL
Ming/Early Qing Dynasty
The pear-shaped body with a bird head forming the neck, spout and cover, the cover with coiled snake-shaped eyes and short ears, stud-shaped nostrils and a hinged beak falling open as the vessel is tipped for pouring, the cover connected to a swinging handle through two eyelets, the mid-section with a loop handle applied to the back assisting pouring, the bronze with an even dark greenish-brown patina
24in. (15.5cm.) high

Lot Essay

Compare the silver-inlaid example sold in our London rooms, 15 June 1998, lot 110. Examples of the archaic prototype are illustrated by Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1995, pp. 274-275, figs. 48 and 48.3, dated 5th Century B.C.