Lot 23
23
A RARE COPPER INLAID BRONZE RITUAL STEM BOWL AND COVER, DOU
These lots have been imported from outside the EU … Read more
A RARE COPPER INLAID BRONZE RITUAL STEM BOWL AND COVER, DOU

WARRING STATES PERIOD (5TH-3RD CENTURY BC)

Details
A RARE COPPER INLAID BRONZE RITUAL STEM BOWL AND COVER, DOU
WARRING STATES PERIOD (5TH-3RD CENTURY BC)
The vessel is of compressed globular form, with a pair of loop handles to the sides, supported on a tall spreading foot decorated with animal-form blades and bands of twisted ropes. Lozenges of copper inlay surround the rim of the bowl, and the cover is surmounted by a circular finial decorated with geometric designs, also with triangular copper inlay. The surface has a pale grey patina with malachite and azurite encrustation.
12 ¼ in/ (31.1 cm.) high
Provenance
With Rare Art, Inc., New York, before 1975.
From an important private European collection.
Special notice
These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

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Lot Essay

Compare with a dou in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Masterworks of Chinese Bronze in the National Palace Museum, (Supplement), Taipei, 1973, no. 22; p.102. Although slightly compressed in height, this dou is similar in form, with flaring finial on the lid, ring handles as well as ornamentation, using similar decorative motifs described by the Palace Museum as 'wave-crests', and triangular animal leiwen.

The design of copper inlay is similar to that on a turquoise-inlaid dou and cover in the Beijing Palace Museum collection, illustrated in Palace Museum Beijing, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 27: Bronze Ritual Vessels and Musical Instruments, Hong Kong, 2006, no. 63.
Two examples of lidded dou with a shorter stem are illustrated by J. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1995, pp. 178-179, no. 24, and pp. 186-187, no. 26.

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