HAN DYNASTY (3RD CENTURY BC - 2ND CENTURY AD)

Details

A BRONZE GARLIC-HEAD BOTTLE, HU
HAN DYNASTY (3RD CENTURY BC - 2ND CENTURY AD)
The bulbous body rises to a tall cylindrical neck below the mouth which is shaped as a lobed garlic bulb, all supported on a short foot. The centre of the underside of the base has a loop with a twisted rope design. The bronze has a dark brownish-green patina with areas of encrustation.
14 in. (35.6 cm.) high

Provenance

With Sogado & Co., Japan, before June 1982.
From an important private European collection.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Compare two bronze hu of similar form, but of slightly larger size, illustrated by J. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York and Washington D.C, 1995, pp. 288-89, nos. 52 (38.7 cm. high) and 52.2 (36.7 cm. high). Another example is in the National Palace Museum Taiwan, illustrated in Shang and Chou Dynasty Bronze Wine Vessels, Taipei, 1978, pp. 212-213, and p. 267.

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