Lot 43
43
A RARE BRONZE WINE VESSEL AND A COVER, BIAN HU

Details
A RARE BRONZE WINE VESSEL AND A COVER, BIAN HU
WARRING STATES PERIOD, 4TH/3RD CENTURY B.C.

The body of flattened oval section raised on a spreading rectangular pedestal base, the oval sides crisply cast in shallow relief with panels of feather-like curl patterns arranged like brick masonry and divided by flat, raised borders inlaid in silver, now of blackish hue, with a pair of taotie mask handles suspending loose rings on the similarly decorated narrow sides, the neck encircled by a band of inlaid triangles below another inlaid band around the sides of the flared rim; the slightly domed cover with a central, slightly convex medallion and an outer band cast in low relief with T-scroll reserved on a granular ground, the two decorated areas bordered by further inlaid bands, with three handle-supports formed by the coiled body of a small granulated dragon, with an allover mottled green patina
13 7/8in. (35.3cm.) high

Lot Essay

A large number of similar bian hu are published. See Ancient Chinese Bronzes In The Collection of The Shanghai Museum, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1983, Catalogue, pp. 122-123, no. 43; Shang-Zhou Qingtong Jiuqi Tezhan Tulu (Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Shang and Zhou Dynasty Bronze Wine Vessels), Taiwan, 1989, p.211, pl.74; Ancient Chinese Arts in The Idemitsu Collection, Japan, 1989, pl. 186; William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 67b; and Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. III, Washington D.C., 1995, p. 279 and 282, fig. 50.3
No other bian hu appears to be published with a cover. This suggests that the present example is either exceedingly rare or that the cover is in fact from another vessel, possibly a hu, perhaps unearthed at the same time, and mistakenly placed on this vessel. The method of decoration, with copper inlay, and the patination and encrustation, are consisitent with the body, however, the design of volutes is not

The bian hu was an innovation of the Eastern Zhou, apparently introduced sometime after 400 B.C. Their production continued into the Han Dynasty