Nadia Bellingeri
Sale Manager, Private Sales & Themed Sales
Lot 34*
A very rare archaic bronze wine vessel and cover, he Warring States Period
17 May 2018, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £100,000 inc. premium
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A very rare archaic bronze wine vessel and cover, he
Warring States Period
The compressed globular body decorated around the exterior with stylised scrolling dragons on a dotted ground between two bands of C-scrolls and whorl-patterns, issuing a mythical bird-shaped spout with hinged beak, supported by three humanoid figures beneath birds with outstretched wings and curled beaks, openwork overhead beast handle linked to the flat cylindrical cover, fitted box. 25.5cm (10in) wide. (2).
The compressed globular body decorated around the exterior with stylised scrolling dragons on a dotted ground between two bands of C-scrolls and whorl-patterns, issuing a mythical bird-shaped spout with hinged beak, supported by three humanoid figures beneath birds with outstretched wings and curled beaks, openwork overhead beast handle linked to the flat cylindrical cover, fitted box. 25.5cm (10in) wide. (2).
Footnotes
戰國 青銅獸帶紋盉
Provenance:
T.T. Tsui, The Jingguantang Collection
Christie's Hong Kong,The Jinggutang Collection: Magnificent Chinese Works of Art, 3 November 1996, lot 597
An Asian private collection
來源：
徐展堂博士靜觀堂收藏
1996年11月3日於香港佳士得「徐展堂靜觀堂珍藏中國藝術精品」專場拍賣，拍品597號
亞洲私人收藏
This vessel is unusual because of the hinged beak of the mythical bird spout. Among the bronze he of the Western Zhou period, those from southern sites are usually more elaborately ornamented with zoomorphic motifs and complex flanged elements than their northern counterparts. In the Eastern Zhou period, he from the south continue to exhibit elaborate ornamentation. Compare with a he probably from the south with similar bird-head spout, bail handle in feline form, the legs also with birds standing on the shoulders of human figures, in the Art Institute of Chicago (ac.no.1930.366), illustrated by J.So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M.Sackler Collections, New York, 1995, p.411, fig.84.3.
Compare with a related tripod wine vessel and cover with bird spout, Warring States Period, illustrated by J.So, Ibid., pp.406, no.84. Another related bronze he with bird-head spout and feline form handle, early Warring States Period, is illustrated by W.Tao, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2009, pp.52-53, no.24. See also another he, Warring States period, in Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, pp.286-287, no.285. Further related examples of archaic bronze tripod wine vessels, Warring States Period, are illustrated by A.J.Koop, Early Chinese Bronzes, London, 1924, pp.39 and 105. Another related vessel, Warring States, is illustrated by W.Perceval Yetts, The Cull Chinese Bronzes, London, 1939, pl.XXII, no.17.
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