The Fu Yi Zhi. A bronze ritual wine vessel, early,Western Zhou Dynasty, 11th-10th century BC. Photo Sotheby's

the elegantly curved slender vessel rising from a high splayed foot and surmounted by a trumpet-like mouth, the underside of the zhi decorated in thread relief with a turtle motif, cast inside the vessel with a two-character inscription, the surface with a light malachite encrustation, with fitted stand (2). Height 6 3/4 in., 17 cm. Estimation 15,000 — 20,000 USD

Provenance: Private Japanese collection.

Description: It is rare to find decoration on the underside of a bronze vessel and it only appears on certain vessel types such as gui, pan, you, and zhi. A very similar zhi with a coiled dragon on the underside is illustrated by Yu Xingyu, in Shuangjianchi jijin tulu (Catalogue of Archaic Bronzes in the Shuangjianchi Studio), 1934, vol. 1, p. 48.
The boxes for this lot are inscribed with two notes: one written by Zoroku (1855-1932); the other written by Professor Matsumaru Michio, dated 2005.

Sotheby's. Archaic Bronzes and the Wu Dacheng Jijintu Scroll. New York. 18 mars 2014 - www.sothebys.com