西周早期 青銅蝸身獸紋簋

Bronze gui decorated with large coiled dragons and protruding fangs are particularly characteristic of the early Western Zhou dynasty. This motif appears on the famous Tian Wang gui in the National Museum of China, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji (Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes), vol. 5: Western Zhou 1, Beijing, 1996, no. 50. From its inscription, we learn that the Tian Wang gui was cast during the reign of King Wu, the first Western Zhou king, which makes it one of the earliest dated Western Zhou bronzes.

Gui of this type appear to have two different bands of decoration on the foot: either bottle-horn dragons with long curved snouts, or S-shaped serpents. The first type is represented by the present example and a gui in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Catalogue to the Special Exhibition of Grain Vessels of the Shang and Chou Dynasties, Taipei, 1985, pl. 23. The second type is represented by a gui excavated from a Western Zhou cemetery at Zhuyuangou near Baoji, Shaanxi province, illustrated in Wenwu, 1983, no. 2, pl. 2 fig. 2. Another gui with the S-shaped serpent band on the foot was sold at Christie's New York, 26 March, 2010, lot 1270.