Lot 8069. A rare and unusual pair of inlaid bronze beakers, Warring States period; 4 1/2in (11.5cm) height of each. Estimate US$ 20,000 - 30,000 (€18,000 - 27,000). Sold for US$ 50,000 (€ 40,610). Photo: Bonhams.

Cast in bronze and of tubular form, the sides applied with bronze wire in intricate geometric patters, alternately enclosing minute chips of malachite and lapis, the vessels raised on low flaring feet, the lips with silver rims, the undersides inset with red lacquered-wood plugs, the interiors retaining traces of red lacquer. 

Published: Kaikodo Journal, New York, Spring 1996, p. 109, no. 51

Note: Warring States vessels with such fine and colorful stone inlay are extremely rare. However for a stylistic predecessor of this pair, of ivory inlaid with contrasting turquoise, see the cup from the tomb of the famous Shang period Queen Fu Hao, excavated in 1976 at Anyang, and now in the Museum of Yinxu, Henan Province. 

For another example of a vessel of related form, although inlaid with the more typical silver and slightly taller (5 7/8in high), see J. So, Eastern Zhou Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1995, p. 416-8, no. 86, and later sold at Sotheby's New York, Magnificent Ritual Bronzes, sale 9026, 17 September 2013, lot 9. The author notes the distinctive shape, "so far only from the Warring States sites in Shandong Province, within the ancient realm of Qi", and that the size of the Sackler beaker (which at 15.1cm high is comparable to the present lot) is unusually small compared to other vessels such as one unearthed at Zhucheng and another from the collection of Dr. Paul Singer. She speculates that the size and surface ornamentation may be the result of later reworking.

Related tubular cups were made in the Han dynasty in jade, suggesting that vessels such as the present lot may have been the inspiration for later developments: see for example a footed jade cup excavated at Chezhangcun, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province and illustrated by J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 386, fig. 3, although Rawson also posits a lacquer prototype for the cup. It is interesting to note that Rawson connects such tubular vessels with double cup stands formed with a bird perching on a monster, for example a 2nd century BC stand excavated at Dou Wan, Mancheng, Hebei Province, and illustrated ibid., p. 387, fig. 4. The placement of a pair of tubular cups in such a stand would provide a model for the very popular yingxiong or 'hero' vase form favored in many media in later Chinese art.

Bonham's. CHINESE PAINTINGS AND WORKS OF ART, 14 Sep 2015 10:00 EDT - NEW YORK