MID WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 9TH-8TH CENTURY BC

Compare the present piece to a gui of this type illustrated by J. Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington DC, 1990, vol. IIB, no. 56, and an excavated example, the Wang Chen gui from Shaanxi, Chengcheng Xian, dated Middle to late Western Zhou, fig. 56.7, which has the same profile and handles, but a ribbed rather than grooved body. The Sackler vessel, dated to late Western Zhou, has a similarly grooved body and decorative bands on the body, cover and ring base, but the handles are of C-scroll form issuing from animal masks with short snouts, projecting tusks, and flat ears, mirroring the ears of the taotie masks around the foot ring. Compare, also, a gui of similar proportions and with fluted sides, but without the grooved scrolls and eyes on the base and cover, illustrated in Important Inscribed Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels from the Li Yingshuan Collection, The Shanghai Museum, 1996, p. 81. no. 32.