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

細節

A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, ZUN
EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC
The gently rounded center well cast with a frieze of two large taotie masks with raised center ridge and reserved on a leiwen ground, between double bow-string borders at the top of the spreading foot and at the base of the broad flaring neck, with an eight-character inscription cast in the base of the interior, with silvery grey and pale turquoise patina
8¼ in. (21 cm.) high, stand

來源

Chen Jieqi, Qing dynasty collector-connoisseur (1813-1884).
Spink & Son, London, early 1980's.

拍品專文

The nine-character inscription may be translated, 'Zhuan made for Father Wu this precious sacral vessel', and a clan sign. The clan sign has been deciphered as consisting of a yaxing and the character li. The vessel and its inscription are recorded in a number of Chinese publications, cited by John C. Ferguson in Lidai zhulu jijin mu, Shanghai, 1939, p. 106; and by Sun Zhichu in Jiwen zhulu jianmu, Beijing, 1981, p. 254, no. 4392. These earlier publications associate the zun with the distinguished Qing dynasty collector-connoisseur Chen Jieqi (1813-1884).
This zun is very similar to two other published examples. One in the Museum Reitberg illustrated by H. Brinker in Bronzen aus dem alten China, Museum Reitberg, Zurich, 1975, pp. 85-6, no. 44, which also has an eight-character inscription illustrated p. 86. The other similar vessel is illustrated by Jung Keng, Yenching Journal of Chinese Studies, Monograph Series No. 17, The Bronzes of Shang and Chou, vol. II, 1941, p. 268, no. 500.