Lot Essay
It is unusual to find a gilt-splashed bronze vessel of this shape and with ropework decoration which recalls archaistic bronzes from the Han Dynasty, such as the hu excavated at Tan Shan in Hebei, illustrated in Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1977, pl. 64b.
Cast ropework decoration was already popular on hu-shaped vessels from the Warring States period. Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. III, p. 245, notes that the imitation rope work forms a sling about the vessel, implying as prototype the rope-slung containers carried by nomads on foot or horseback; compare for example the imitation ropework in op. cit., Fig. 41.1.
Cast ropework decoration was already popular on hu-shaped vessels from the Warring States period. Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. III, p. 245, notes that the imitation rope work forms a sling about the vessel, implying as prototype the rope-slung containers carried by nomads on foot or horseback; compare for example the imitation ropework in op. cit., Fig. 41.1.