A RARE SILVER-EMBELLISHED BRONZE BEAKER

BRONZE BEAKER LATE EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, WARRING STATES PERIOD, 4TH CENTURY BC, SHANDONG PROVINCE; SILVER DECORATION OF LATER DATE

Details

A RARE SILVER-EMBELLISHED BRONZE BEAKER
BRONZE BEAKER LATE EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, WARRING STATES PERIOD, 4TH CENTURY BC, SHANDONG PROVINCE; SILVER DECORATION OF LATER DATE
The deep tapering body raised on a shallow spreading foot, the sides decorated in silver sheet with two bands containing two pairs of addorsed birds, the pairs in the upper register with heads thrown up in triumph as they face in opposite directions towards a pair of small silver-inlaid loop handles terminating in serpent heads and their tails cross above their striped wings, the birds in the lower register shown standing breast to breast with a small ring between their feet and with their long necks and heads turned backwards towards their crossed tails, all between plain silver borders, with malachite green and azurite blue encrustation
5 7/8 in. (15 cm.) high

Provenance

D. David-Weill Collection; Sotheby's, London, 29 February 1972, lot 155.

Literature

J. So, Eastern Zhou Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1995, pp. 416-8, no. 86.

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Lot Essay

According to J. So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1995, no. 86, the shape of this vessel is distinctive to Warring States sites in Shandong province. The author illustrates two larger vessels of this shape, both with larger ring handles and covers, fig. 86.1 (32.9 cm.), from Shandong Zhucheng Cangjiazhuang, 1 of 2, and fig. 86.2 (39.5 cm.), from the collection of Dr. Paul Singer. Both can be seen to have plain bodies. The author proposes that the decoration of the present piece is "likely the results of later reworking." Two smaller (7 and 6 inches high) plain vessels of this shape, also with covers, are illlustrated by M. Loehr, Relics of Ancient China from the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer, The Asia Society, New York, 1965, p. 67, pl. 69.

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