HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 220)

Details

A BRONZE TRIPOD WINE VESSEL AND COVER, HU
HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 220)
The pear-shaped vessel is raised on three hoof supports, and has a yoke handle with dragon-head terminals attached by double linked chains to rings suspended from a pair of loop handles. The fitted cover with sloping sides is surmounted by a small pierced finial. The surface has a mottled grey and pale green patina.
8½ in. (21.5 cm.) high with handle, Japanese wood box

Provenance

Kinpei Takeuchi (1873-1960).
Kyuichi Sano (1889-1977), acquired in Tokyo, 1950s.
Sano Art Museum, Mishima, Japan.
Christie's New York, 21 March 2013, lot 1247.

Literature

Sano Art Museum, Sano Bijutsukan zohinsho, 1986, p. 77, no. 103.

Lot Essay

A similar hu, dated Han dynasty, 2nd-1st century BC, is illustrated by C. Deydier, Les Bronzes Chinois, Paris, 1980, no. 81. Unlike the single, pierced, flat finial in the center of the cover of the present hu, the cover of the published vessel has three simplified animal-form rings spaced evenly near the edge, which would have functioned as supports when the cover was inverted.

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