AN ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSEL, GU

SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

AN ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSEL, GU
Shang Dynasty, 13th Century B.C.
Of slender proportions, the trumpet-shaped neck cast in low relief with leiwen-filled blades above a segmented band of small S-shaped serpents, the central section cast in higher relief with two taotie masks centered on and divided by vertical, notched flanges, a double bowstring band below interrupted by two cruciform motifs, and the spreading foot also decorated with two taotie masks below a band of cicadas and flanges, with a mottled olive and grayish-olive patina and areas of green encrustation
10.5/8in. (27cm.) high

Provenance

C.J. Fuchs
Sotheby's, London, December 2, 1974, lot 4

Lot Essay

For a gu with identical decoration see, Bernhard Karlgren, "Some Characteristics of the Yin Art", B.M.F.E.A., No. 34, Stockholm, 1962, pl. 9a. Other very similar gu are illustrated by Ren-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argenc in Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection, Japan, 1977, pl. XX (left); by Charles Fabens Kelley and Ch'en Meng-chia, Chinese Bronzes from the Buckingham Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1946, pp. 32-33, pl. XII; and by William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 20, although the flanges on this gu are not so prominent. All of these gu, plus the present example, are of slender, elegant form

An analysis by Conservation and Technical Services Ltd., University of London, is consistent with the dating of this lot