Lot 200
200
AN ARCHAIC BRONZE VESSEL, GUI
AN ARCHAIC BRONZE VESSEL, GUI

EARLY WESTERN ZHOU (1100-771 B.C.)

Details
AN ARCHAIC BRONZE VESSEL, GUI
EARLY WESTERN ZHOU (1100-771 B.C.)
Cast below the flaring rim at the centre on both sides with a bovine mask and four centre-facing birds above the ribbed bowl, the sides with two bovine handles, the spreading base with a band of stylised birds interspersed by raised roundels, the interior cast with a three-character pictogram
9 7/8 in. (15 cm.) wide.
Provenance
Formerly in a private American collection amassed in the 1950s.

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Caroline Allen
Caroline Allen

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Lot Essay

Gui with ribbed decoration appeared in the late Shang Dynasty, but the ribbing on these early examples is dense and short, forming only a band around the bowl. It is not until early Western Zhou that deeply ribbed gui, as represented on the present lot, appeared. The stylised bird decoration around the neck and base, in contrast to the earlier, more naturalistic rendition of birds, also indicates its dating. Compare a very similar gui in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Shang and Zhou Dynasty Bronze Wine Vessels, Taibei, 1989, p.95 and, pl. 28.

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