Hannah Thompson
Director
PROPERTY OF VARIOUS OWNERS
Lot 41
An archaic bronze vessel,gui Western Zhou period, 9th/8th century BCE
16 December 2021, 10:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$16,562.50 inc. premium
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An archaic bronze vessel,gui
Western Zhou period, 9th/8th century BCE
Cast with rounded sides and an everted rim all raised on a stepped foot, set with a pair of loop handles each issuing from a ram's head mask and suspending a pendent flange, the neck cast in shallow relief with a band of abstracted taotie masks and centered by a high-relief bovine mask on each side, the foot encircled by a band of leiwen in low relief punctuated by high-relief oval bosses, malachite and earthen encrustation throughout.
4 7/8in (12.4cm) high; 10in (25.4cm) width across handles
Cast with rounded sides and an everted rim all raised on a stepped foot, set with a pair of loop handles each issuing from a ram's head mask and suspending a pendent flange, the neck cast in shallow relief with a band of abstracted taotie masks and centered by a high-relief bovine mask on each side, the foot encircled by a band of leiwen in low relief punctuated by high-relief oval bosses, malachite and earthen encrustation throughout.
4 7/8in (12.4cm) high; 10in (25.4cm) width across handles
Footnotes
Provenance:
Art Treasures Gallery, Hong Kong February 1, 1996
Vessels of this type were cast in Shang and early Western Zhou period as part of a set of ritual bronze vessels used in state ceremonies or, in the case of this type, to hold grain or food as an offering to the ancestors. The simplicity yet refined quality of the cast taotie and leiwen bands at the handles points to a circa 9th/8th century date, and a regional workshop.
