Lot 716
716
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU
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Please note that this lot is subject to an import … Read more THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU

LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Details
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC
The flaring trumpet neck is cast with four scroll-filled blades rising from a narrow band of cicadas above the mid-section cast with two taotie masks divided and separated by notched flanges, which are repeated on the spreading foot below a further narrow band of cicadas, all reserved on a leiwen ground. The interior of the foot is cast with a four-character inscription.
10 3⁄8 in. (26.3 cm.) high
Provenance
Sotheby’s London, 11 May 1965, lot 101.
Literature
Wang Tao and Liu Yu,  A Selection of Early Chinese Bronzes with Inscriptions from Sotheby's and Christie's, Shanghai, 2007, no. 236.
Special notice
Please note that this lot is subject to an import tariff. The amount of the import tariff due is a percentage of the final hammer price plus buyer's premium. The buyer should contact Post Sale Services prior to the sale to determine the estimated amount of the import tariff. If the buyer instructs Christie's to arrange shipping of the lot to a foreign address the buyer will not be required to pay the import tariff, but the shipment may be delayed while awaiting approval to export from the local government. If the buyer instructs Christie's to arrange shipping of the lot to a domestic address, if the buyer collects the property in person, or if the buyer arranges their own shipping (whether domestically or internationally), the buyer will be required to pay the import tariff. For the purpose of calculating sales tax, if applicable, the import tariff will be added to the final hammer price plus buyer's premium and sales tax will be collected as per The Buyer's Premium and Taxes section of the Conditions of Sale.

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Rufus Chen (陳嘉安)
Rufus Chen (陳嘉安) Head of Sale, AVP, Specialist
+1 212 636 2180

Lot Essay


The inscription may be translated as, 'X (personal name) Guan. Father Geng.'

A gu of similar proportions and decoration is illustrated by R. W. Bagley, in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington D.C., 1987, p. 241, no. 33. See, also, the similar gu illustrated by W.T. Chase in Ancient Chinese Bronze Art, China House Gallery, New York, 1991, no. 9, and another by M. Loehr in Relics of Ancient China, The Asia Society, 1965, p. 41, no. 11.

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