Lot 901. A bronze ritual wine vessel, gui, Late Shang dynasty, 13th-11th century BC, 10 ¾ in. (27.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. Price realised USD 27,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The trumpet-shaped neck is flat-cast with four upright blades rising from a band of leiwen pattern, and the middle section and spreading foot with taotie masks divided and separated by narrow notched flanges, those on the foot below a band of kui dragons, all on a leiwenground and filled with leiwen. A single graph is cast on the interior of the foot. The bronze has a mottled green patina. 

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 9 June 1992, lot 2.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York