SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-12TH CENTURY BC

Details

A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU
SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-12TH CENTURY BC
The vessel is of slender silhouette, and the tall trumpet-shaped neck is cast with four cicada blades filled with leiwen and pairs of eyes that rise from a band of four flower-like motifs with central 'eye', the middle section and the spreading foot are cast with notched flanges that divide and separate taotie masks, those on the foot below pairs of confronted birds. The bronze has a mottled patina.
11 7/8 in. (30.1 cm.) high

Provenance

Anna Charlotte Rice Cooke (1853-1934) collection, Hawaii, prior to 1934, and thence by decent within the family.

Brought to you by

Nick Wilson

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Lot Essay

The unusual flower-like motifs in the band at the base of the neck are also seen at the base of the neck of a bronze zun, dated 12th-11th century BC, illustrated by Robert W. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington DC, 1987, pp. 284-5, no. 47. The author notes, p. 286, that this motif is found as early as the Erligang phase stamped on white pottery vessels, a shard of which is illustrated with other shards, p. 131, fig. 199.

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