An Impressive Archaic Bronze Ritual Food Vessel (pou). Middle - Late Shang Dynasty, 14th-13th Century BC. Photo Sotheby's

of ovoid form rising to a short tapering neck cast with a pair of bowstring bands below the everted rim and resting on a high, slightly splayed foot, the central band crisply cast with a series of three taotie patterns centering a low narrow ridge, surmounted by a band of confronting kui dragons, the pattern echoing the rear section of the taotie below, and divided by three raised horned masks which are centered over the taotie of the main
register, the dragon pattern repeated around the base and interrupted by three apertures, all against a leiwen ground, the smooth olive green patina with scattered areas of malachite encrustation, Japanese wood box (2). Height 13 1/4 in., 33.6 cm - ESTIMATION 250,000-300,000 USD

PROVENANCE: Old Japanese Collection.

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: Similar pou are discussed and illustrated in Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington D.C., 1987, pl. 57, fig. 57.1, pp. 334-336. Another similar example formerly of the Sano ArtMuseum, Mishima City, Japan, was sold in these rooms 14th September, 2011, lot 265.

Pou first appeared in the Shang bronze casting repertory at the end of the Erligang phase and disappeared before the beginning of the Western Zhou. The present piece is notable for its large size and swelling volume. Its surface is intricately covered with a design of taotie and dragons in low relief dotted with three prominently raised bovine heads and prominent eyes. Like the pou from the Sackler Collections cited above, these frieze divisions in the decor correspond with the joins of the three-part mold.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York | 11 sept. 2012 www.sothebys.com