WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, CIRCA 1100-771 BC

Several examples of archaic bronze vessels with the 'straps and rivets' design are known. A detailed discussion of this style of decoration is provided by René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé in Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1977, p. 100. A you vessel of similar shape, design and dating is illustrated by J. Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1990, pp. 448-49, no. 67. Three other examples with the 'strapwork' design are also illustrated, ibid, pp. 490-91: one from Hei Bo, Gansu Lingtai Baicaopo, fig. 67.1; one in the Idemitsu Museum, fig. 67.2; and one in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, fig. 67.3. A you vessel similar to the present lot dated to the early Western Zhou Dynasty (11th-10th century BC) was sold at Christie's New York, 19 September 2013, lot 1107.

The following lot is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Museum Für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, am Main, dated 14 September, 1958.