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Lot Essay
This rare small gu is finely cast around the trumpet neck with blades containing pairs of confronted inverted stylized birds with sharp claws. Further stylized birds decorate the splayed foot while the belly is cast with eyes on quatrefoils.
It is rare to find a gu decorated with designs of eyes on quatrefoils as the main motif. A gu of similar size, proportions and decoration was unearthed from burial M793 in the west part of the Yin ruins in Anyang, Henan province, and is illustrated in Zhonguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo ed., “1969-1977 nian Yinxu xiqu muzang fajue baogao,” Kaogu xuebao, 1979.1, p. 27, pl. 13.3. Another almost identical gu with eyes on quatrefoils in the Ashmolean Musuem, University of Oxford, is illustrated by Minao Hayashi in Yinshu jidai seidouki no kenkyuu (Studies on the Bronzes of the Ying and Zhou periods), Tokyo, 1984, p. 318. Minao Hayashi illustrates details of the design in Yinshu jidai seidouki monyou no kenyuu (Studies on Yin and Zhou Bronze Decoration), Tokyo, 1986, p. 323, fig. 12:107.
Another unusual feature of the current gu is that the belly of the vessel extends below the rounded midsection and into the section above the foot decorated with two bow strings.
It is rare to find a gu decorated with designs of eyes on quatrefoils as the main motif. A gu of similar size, proportions and decoration was unearthed from burial M793 in the west part of the Yin ruins in Anyang, Henan province, and is illustrated in Zhonguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo ed., “1969-1977 nian Yinxu xiqu muzang fajue baogao,” Kaogu xuebao, 1979.1, p. 27, pl. 13.3. Another almost identical gu with eyes on quatrefoils in the Ashmolean Musuem, University of Oxford, is illustrated by Minao Hayashi in Yinshu jidai seidouki no kenkyuu (Studies on the Bronzes of the Ying and Zhou periods), Tokyo, 1984, p. 318. Minao Hayashi illustrates details of the design in Yinshu jidai seidouki monyou no kenyuu (Studies on Yin and Zhou Bronze Decoration), Tokyo, 1986, p. 323, fig. 12:107.
Another unusual feature of the current gu is that the belly of the vessel extends below the rounded midsection and into the section above the foot decorated with two bow strings.