Bruce Maclaren
Global Head, Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy
Lot 139
AN ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSEL, GU Shang dynasty
21 September 2020, 12:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$50,075 inc. premium
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Dessa Goddard
Senior Vice President, US Head, Asian Art Group
AN ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSEL, GU
Shang dynasty
The slightly tapered cylindrical body cast between a tall trumpet neck and a flaring pedestal foot, the body and splayed foot cast with raised flanges separating and bisecting pairs of taotie masks with raised eyes against a leiwen ground, with a pair of bowstrings dividing the body from the pedestal foot, the trumpet neck encircled at the base by a band of four S-shaped serpents below four upright triangular blades enclosing raised ridges sporting hooked appendages against a leiwen ground, the greenish-brown patina with areas of encrustation, the interior of the foot cast with a three character inscription partially obscured by encrustation.
12 1/8in (31cm) high
The slightly tapered cylindrical body cast between a tall trumpet neck and a flaring pedestal foot, the body and splayed foot cast with raised flanges separating and bisecting pairs of taotie masks with raised eyes against a leiwen ground, with a pair of bowstrings dividing the body from the pedestal foot, the trumpet neck encircled at the base by a band of four S-shaped serpents below four upright triangular blades enclosing raised ridges sporting hooked appendages against a leiwen ground, the greenish-brown patina with areas of encrustation, the interior of the foot cast with a three character inscription partially obscured by encrustation.
12 1/8in (31cm) high
Footnotes
商 青銅饕餮紋觚
Provenance
Ellanore Baxter Judd (1905-1986) and Dr. John Hewitt Judd (1899-1986),
Omaha, Nebraska, by descent
來源
內布拉斯加州 Judd 醫師珍藏，後由家族後人繼承收藏
Bronze gu were among the most important vessels used in state rituals during the late Shang dynasty. See Shang dynasty gu vessels illustrated by Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Cambridge, 1987, pp.216-227.
Two similar gu are illustrated in Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, pp.68-69, nos.40 and 43; and another gu dated to the middle/late Anyang period, is illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, 1998, pp.280-283, no.411.
See also an example was sold in these rooms, 19 March 2018, lot 8030; and another with similar decoration was sold at Christie's New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1510.
