A RARE BRONZE BIRD'S HEAD-FORM VESSEL COVER

EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 6TH-5TH CENTURY BC

Details

A RARE BRONZE BIRD'S HEAD-FORM VESSEL COVER
EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 6TH-5TH CENTURY BC
The cover of a bird-form hu, heavily cast and hollow, with open down-curved beak, scale-like feathers below the rounded eyes, and a small crest between the upright ears, which are also cast with scale-like feathers, with grey patina and malachite and reddish encrustation
4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) long, box

Provenance

Acquired in Hong Kong, 1991.

Exhibited

The Glorious Traditions of Chinese Bronzes, Singapore, 2000, no. 47.
Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2002-2006.

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Lot Essay

This unusual bird's head is the removable cover of a vessel, most likely a hu or a zun, that would have been in the shape of a standing bird. A bird-form zun, in the Freer Gallery of Art, is illustrated by G.W. Weber, The Ornaments of Late Chou Bronzes, Rutgers University Press, 1973, pp. 348-55, no. 64, pl. 74. Also illustrated, pp. 356-59, no. 65, pl. 75, is a vessel in the form of a crouching griffon or chimera, with separate cover in the form of a bird's head, which may be a replacement, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Both of these vessels are dated first quarter of the 5th century BC.

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