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Lot Essay
The inscription in the interior consists of an animal silhouette enclosed by the cruciform character ya, together composing a graph which can be read as a clan emblem or insignia. The animal silhouette enclosed within appears to be a reptile or sea-creature amongst waves.
Three graphs that may be simplified versions of the present graph are illustrated in Jinwen bianfulu (shang), 1938, p. 1070, no. 170, comprising similar dragon-like components.
Compare with an early Western Zhou gui in the Sackler Collection with almost identical proportions and decoration, illustrated by J. Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington D.C, 1990, vol. IIB, pp. 356-357. The bold taotie mask is centred on a flange surmounted by an animal head in relief, and animal-form handles with hooked pendants extending from the bottom are remarkably similar in both vessels. The Sackler gui, being 2 cm. wider in diameter, perhaps came from the same set of differently sized ritual vessels.
A gui of comparable form and style can be found in the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated by John A. Pope and Rutherford J. Gettens in The Freer Chinese Bronzes, Washington, Smithsonian Institution, 1967, vol. I, pl. 64, pp. 358-363. This example shares the same animal-form handles and prominent taotie design centred on a pronounced central flange on the main body of the vessel. Another example found in the Shaanxi History Museum collection is a gui excavated from the Western Zhou site Hejia. Despite considerable encrustation, there are clear similarities in vessel form and large taotie scroll design of the main body, which is surmounted by an animal head in the top narrow register (The Shaanxi Bronzes, Xi'an, 1994, p. 930.)
Three graphs that may be simplified versions of the present graph are illustrated in Jinwen bianfulu (shang), 1938, p. 1070, no. 170, comprising similar dragon-like components.
Compare with an early Western Zhou gui in the Sackler Collection with almost identical proportions and decoration, illustrated by J. Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington D.C, 1990, vol. IIB, pp. 356-357. The bold taotie mask is centred on a flange surmounted by an animal head in relief, and animal-form handles with hooked pendants extending from the bottom are remarkably similar in both vessels. The Sackler gui, being 2 cm. wider in diameter, perhaps came from the same set of differently sized ritual vessels.
A gui of comparable form and style can be found in the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated by John A. Pope and Rutherford J. Gettens in The Freer Chinese Bronzes, Washington, Smithsonian Institution, 1967, vol. I, pl. 64, pp. 358-363. This example shares the same animal-form handles and prominent taotie design centred on a pronounced central flange on the main body of the vessel. Another example found in the Shaanxi History Museum collection is a gui excavated from the Western Zhou site Hejia. Despite considerable encrustation, there are clear similarities in vessel form and large taotie scroll design of the main body, which is surmounted by an animal head in the top narrow register (The Shaanxi Bronzes, Xi'an, 1994, p. 930.)