AN ARCHAIC BRONZE FOOD VESSEL, GUI

LATE SHANG/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

AN ARCHAIC BRONZE FOOD VESSEL, GUI
Late Shang/Early Western Zhou Dynasty, 11th-10th Century B.C.
The upper body cast in relief with four pairs of long-tailed birds reserved on a leiwen ground, two confronted on a small taotie mask, the other two confronted on the bovine mask at the top of each handle, and with a band of confronted dragons encircling the pedestal foot, with a seven-character pictogram on the interior, the dark grey patina with some light green encrustation
8.7/8in. (22.5cm.) across handles, wood stand

Lot Essay

Compare the similar gui illustrated by Annette L. Juliano in the Catalogue of the exhibition Bronze, Clay and Stone: Chinese Art in the C.C. Wang Family Collection, Seattle and London, 1988, no. 5. For a related gui with tabs on the handles, see Jung Keng, 'The Bronzes of Shang and Chou', Yenching Journal of Chinese Studies, Beijing, 1941, vol. II, p. 141, no. 261.