A Bronze Pear-Shaped Bronze Wine Vessel and Cover, You

Tax exempt.

SALE TO BENEFIT THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUMS, EX-COLLECTION DAVID A. BERG, NEW YORK*

A Bronze Pear-Shaped Bronze Wine Vessel and Cover, You

SHANG DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

A Bronze Pear-Shaped Bronze Wine Vessel and Cover, You
Shang Dynasty, 11th Century B.C.
The vessel of oval section raised on a spreading foot encircled by two bowstring bands, finely cast around the shoulder with a band of two pairs of elongated dragons confronted on an animal mask and reserved on a leiwen ground above another bowstring band, with a similar band on the cover below the segmented knop finial, the arched handle cast with elongated, winged cicadas and pyramidal bosses terminating at the ends in bottle-horn dragon heads atop the rings attached to the loops projecting from the shoulder, with well-cast matching pictographs inside the vessel and cover, with silvery-grey patina and green and ferrous encrustation
11in. (28cm.) high

Special notice

Tax exempt.

Lot Essay

Compare the you similar in form, foot, handle terminals and small animal mask decoration on two sides, but with different decorative bands on the shoulder and cover included in the O.C.S. exhibition, Early Chinese Bronzes, London, 1951, no. 70 and later sold in our London rooms, 10 December 1990, lot 2. As with the present example, both the vessel and cover are cast with a dedicatory pictograph.

More from Fine Chinese Ceramics, Paintings and Works of Art

View All