A RARE BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND COVER, YOU

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

Details

A RARE BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND COVER, YOU
EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, LATE 11TH-EARLY 10TH CENTURY BC
Each side of the pear-shaped body divided into quadrants by strap borders cast in high relief, with diamond-shaped bosses at the interstices of the middle band, the neck, foot and cover cast with bands of pairs of birds confronted on masks, the masks on the neck cast in high relief and those on the foot and cover simplified and flat, the arched handle with dragon head terminals and cast with elongated cicada motifs separated by diamond bosses, the bottom of the interior cast with a seven-character inscription, with grey patina and milky-green encrustation
15 in. (38 cm.) high with handle

Provenance

Acquired outside of China, 1990s.
American collection.
J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 2006.

Exhibited

Art and Imitation in China, Hong Kong, 2006, no. 30 and cover.

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Lot Essay

The seven-character inscription may be read, "X zuo fu Ding bao zun yi x", and may be translated, "X made this precious sacred vessel for father Ding".
A similar you and cover with an inscription, Chen chen fu yi, dated to early Western Zhou, in the Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, is illustrated by J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, p. 491, fig. 67.3. Another similar you, in the Museum Rietberg, is illustrated by H. Brinker, Bronzen aus dem alten China, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 1975-76, p. 68-9, no. 28. The strapwork cast in relief on these you is based on leather straps secured by diamond-shaped studs that would have been found on leather pouches or flasks of this period.

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