A RARE BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, GUI

EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC

Details

A RARE BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, GUI
EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC
The sides cast in low rounded relief with four dismembered taotie masks, two centered on the pair of loop handles cast on top with a bovine head and below with a pendent tab cast with a bird's legs and tail, with a sawtooth band also cast in low relief below the everted rim, and a band of four pairs of confronted, long-tailed dragons on the pedestal foot, the bottom of the interior cast with a three-character inscription, with silver patina and some malachite encrustation
10 5/8 in. (27 cm.) across handles, wood stand

Provenance

J. T. Tai, New York, 1960.

Lot Essay

The three-character inscription may be read, jian zuo yi, 'Jian [had] made [this] vessel'.

This gui is very unusual in several aspects. The sawtooth band cast in low rounded relief appears to be very rare. The dismembered taotie masks, which are similarly cast, are also unusual in the wide spacing between the elements of the masks. Similar dismembered taotie masks can be seen on the tall foot of two gui illustrated by J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1990; one in the Sackler Collections, pp. 416-7, no. 52, the other in the Palace Museum, Beijing, p. 418, fig. 52.5.

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