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Lot Essay
The two-character inscription cast on the inside of the vessel, consisting of a bird-like pictograph, and the cyclical character ji, appears again as the latter half of the four-character inscription inside the cover, likely comprising a clan sign.
For an undecorated you of similar shape, see Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing 1999, p. 154, no. 138. Compare, also, a late Shang or early Western Zhou you of similar profile excavated from Shaanxi Wishan Jejiacun, though with different leiwen bands, illustrated by J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington, DC, 1990, p. 480, fig. 64.2.
The stylized bird motifs on the present you can be compared to the ornamentation on bronzes excavated at Shaanxi Fufeng Famen Gongshe, from the strata which dates to the mid-Western Zhou period. See J. Rawson, op. cit., p. 287, fig. 18.5.
Unlike most published you, which have swing handles attached to loops on the vessel, this you has tubular lugs, which are reminiscent of those seen on ceramic you of Shang and Zhou date. See, J. Rawson, op. cit., p. 487, fig. 66.1.
For an undecorated you of similar shape, see Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing 1999, p. 154, no. 138. Compare, also, a late Shang or early Western Zhou you of similar profile excavated from Shaanxi Wishan Jejiacun, though with different leiwen bands, illustrated by J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington, DC, 1990, p. 480, fig. 64.2.
The stylized bird motifs on the present you can be compared to the ornamentation on bronzes excavated at Shaanxi Fufeng Famen Gongshe, from the strata which dates to the mid-Western Zhou period. See J. Rawson, op. cit., p. 287, fig. 18.5.
Unlike most published you, which have swing handles attached to loops on the vessel, this you has tubular lugs, which are reminiscent of those seen on ceramic you of Shang and Zhou date. See, J. Rawson, op. cit., p. 487, fig. 66.1.