Lot Essay
Both its unspecific shape and the elaborate decoration of this vessel and cover make it a very unusual and interesting bronze
Its shape combines characteristics of gui, xu and fu. It shares the basin shape and large handles of gui of the Late Western Zhou period (and incidentally the fluted horizontal bands which often decorate them). It compares to xu in being of rounded rectangular form and having a cover which is similar in shape, but not a mirror image of the vessel, and which doubles as a vessel with legs or base when turned upside down; and in having handles on the vessel only. Finally, the presence of little retaining flanges around the rim of the cover relates it closely to fu, as does the close similarity of size and shape between the cover and the vessel
For examples of comparable gui, each with cover, splayed base with legs, large handles and fluted bands, see the handbook of the bronzes in the Ancient Chinese Bronze Gallery in the Shanghai Museum, p. 29 and Chen Peifen, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Shanghai Museum, London, 1995, p. 73, pl. 45. Compare, also, the xu and cover illustrated in Chinese Bronzes from the Buckingham Collection, Chicago, 1946, pp. 61-63, pls. XXXI-XXXIII; one in Bronzes de la Chine Antique du XVIII au III siecles avant J.C., Milan, 1988, pp. 122-123, no. 42; the Late Western Zhou example illustrated by Chen Peifen, op.cit, p. 76, no. 47; and the xu without a cover illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIA, Washington D.C, 1990, p. 105, fig. 149. For an example of a comparable fu and cover in the Shanghai Museum Handbook of Bronzes, p. 30 and the example illustrated by Rawson op.cit, p. 107, fig. 151b
Such a hybrid shape comes as no surprise in a period of experimental new forms after a sudden abandonment of old vessel types at the end of the middle Western Zhou. The xu and fu are new food vessels, although the former is based on earlier gui and the latter has Early Western Zhou prototypes in either bronze or even bamboo
On balance, the shape compares more favourably to a xu than either a gui or fu, although it is arguably a fang gui
Regarding its decoration, So, op.cit., p. 28, says of the bronze that it "seems to bridge the gap between the eighth-century Wenxi miniatures and the early sixth-century Xinzheng bronzes". That is to say, it is characterized by the profusion of applied animals, the shallow-relief patterns typical of bronzes from the Qin territory during the eighth century and by the concave patterns forming the bird-shaped, openwork handles and three-dimensional supports which recall bronzes from Henan Xinzheng Lijialou during the earlier sixth century. Compare, therefore, the 8th century B.C. miniature cart from Shanxi Wenxi Shangguocun, illustrated by So, op.cit., p. 29, fig. 28, with a similar quantity of applied vertical felines and birds and the early 6th century B.C. fang hu from Henan Xinzheng Lijialou, illustrated p. 25, fig. 19, with large openwork handles, vertically applied animals and resting on openwork feline feet
Again, like its shape, the decoration of the bronze manifests the diversity typical of Eastern Zhou bronzes. Casters could draw on a complex variety of influences, literally a "melting pot", in a milieu of stylistic cross-currents caused by the volatile political, social and economic conditions of the time
Its shape combines characteristics of gui, xu and fu. It shares the basin shape and large handles of gui of the Late Western Zhou period (and incidentally the fluted horizontal bands which often decorate them). It compares to xu in being of rounded rectangular form and having a cover which is similar in shape, but not a mirror image of the vessel, and which doubles as a vessel with legs or base when turned upside down; and in having handles on the vessel only. Finally, the presence of little retaining flanges around the rim of the cover relates it closely to fu, as does the close similarity of size and shape between the cover and the vessel
For examples of comparable gui, each with cover, splayed base with legs, large handles and fluted bands, see the handbook of the bronzes in the Ancient Chinese Bronze Gallery in the Shanghai Museum, p. 29 and Chen Peifen, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Shanghai Museum, London, 1995, p. 73, pl. 45. Compare, also, the xu and cover illustrated in Chinese Bronzes from the Buckingham Collection, Chicago, 1946, pp. 61-63, pls. XXXI-XXXIII; one in Bronzes de la Chine Antique du XVIII au III siecles avant J.C., Milan, 1988, pp. 122-123, no. 42; the Late Western Zhou example illustrated by Chen Peifen, op.cit, p. 76, no. 47; and the xu without a cover illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIA, Washington D.C, 1990, p. 105, fig. 149. For an example of a comparable fu and cover in the Shanghai Museum Handbook of Bronzes, p. 30 and the example illustrated by Rawson op.cit, p. 107, fig. 151b
Such a hybrid shape comes as no surprise in a period of experimental new forms after a sudden abandonment of old vessel types at the end of the middle Western Zhou. The xu and fu are new food vessels, although the former is based on earlier gui and the latter has Early Western Zhou prototypes in either bronze or even bamboo
On balance, the shape compares more favourably to a xu than either a gui or fu, although it is arguably a fang gui
Regarding its decoration, So, op.cit., p. 28, says of the bronze that it "seems to bridge the gap between the eighth-century Wenxi miniatures and the early sixth-century Xinzheng bronzes". That is to say, it is characterized by the profusion of applied animals, the shallow-relief patterns typical of bronzes from the Qin territory during the eighth century and by the concave patterns forming the bird-shaped, openwork handles and three-dimensional supports which recall bronzes from Henan Xinzheng Lijialou during the earlier sixth century. Compare, therefore, the 8th century B.C. miniature cart from Shanxi Wenxi Shangguocun, illustrated by So, op.cit., p. 29, fig. 28, with a similar quantity of applied vertical felines and birds and the early 6th century B.C. fang hu from Henan Xinzheng Lijialou, illustrated p. 25, fig. 19, with large openwork handles, vertically applied animals and resting on openwork feline feet
Again, like its shape, the decoration of the bronze manifests the diversity typical of Eastern Zhou bronzes. Casters could draw on a complex variety of influences, literally a "melting pot", in a milieu of stylistic cross-currents caused by the volatile political, social and economic conditions of the time