Lot 904 . A very rare and important large bronze ritual wine vessel, lei, Middle Western Zhou dynasty, 10th century BC; 15 3/8 in. (39 cm.) high. Estimate USD 400,000 - USD 600,000. Price realised USD 732,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018

The heavily cast vessel is raised on a spreading, molded foot encircled by two bow-string bands. The body is decorated with a band of pendant blades enclosing pairs of confronted dragons, and the shoulder is decorated with a band of flower-like motifs with central 'eyes' alternating with whorl bosses, interrupted by a pair of bovine-mask-surmounted, D-shaped handles that suspend loose rings, below a band of wave patterns around the neck. The bronze has a blackish patina with small areas of malachite and cuprite encrustation. 

Provenance: Warren King, Hong Kong, 1980s.

Note: Massive containers for wine, lei vessels, were produced from the late Shang to middle Eastern Zhou periods (13th-7th century BC). Over this relatively long period of time, the form of lei vessels underwent several distinctive stages of development. One of the most remarkable variations of lei vessels is the fanglei, which is indeed the most imposing and most majestic of Chinese archaic bronzes, such as the fanglei sold at Christie’s New York: Important Chinese Art from the Fujita Museum, 15 March 2017, lot 524. 

A magnificent and highly important bronze ritual wine vessel, fanglei, Late Shang Dynasty, Anyang, 13Th-11th century BC; 25 in. (63.5 cm.) high. Sold for USD 33,847,500 at Christie’s New York: Important Chinese Art from the Fujita Museum, 15 March 2017, lot 524. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Cf. my post: Important Chinese Art from the Fujita Museum, 15 March 2017, New York

The present lei vessel, dated to the middle Western Zhou period, represents the transitional style between the late Shang/early Western Zhou lei and the Eastern Zhou lei. Some of the most notable characteristics of the middle Western Zhou lei, as seen on the present example, include a more compressed shape, disappearance of the third D-shaped handle on one side of the lower body, and the introduction of continuous geometric patterns around the neck. These features were inherited and further developed by the Eastern Zhou lei vessels such as an 8th century BC example illustrated by J. So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D.C., 1995, pp. 202-3, no. 30. 

A lei vessel of similar form and decoration found in Quandu village, Fengxiang county, Shaanxi province, is illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji (Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes), vol. 5: Western Zhou 1, Beijing, 1996, p. 174, no. 182. Lei vessels of identical form, and with similar decoration, except for the regardant dragons on the shoulders, include a pair found at Qijiacun, Fufeng county, Shaanxi province, illustrated in Shaanxi chutu shang zhou qingtongqi (Bronze Vessels Unearthed from the Shaanxi Province), vol. II, Beijing, 1980, pls. 130 and 131; the Yan Yu Shi lei in the Palace Museum, Beijing, with a nineteen-character inscription identifying it as zunlei (ritual lei vessel), illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, - 27 - Bronze Ritual Vessels and Musical Instruments, Hong Kong, 2006, pp. 158-59, no. 102; one in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, illustrated by René Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé in Bronze vessels of ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1977, p. 92-93, no. XXXVIII; one in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated by Wang Tao in Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2009, pp. 120-21, no. 54; and another sold at Sotheby’s New York, 16 September 2009, lot 121. 

A large archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, lei, Western Zhou dynasty; height 17 1/4 in., 43.8 cm. Sold for 386,500 USD to an Asian Trade at Sotheby’s New York, 16 September 2009, lot 121. © Sotheby's 

Cf. my post: Sales of Chinese Art at Sotheby’s Total: $15,532,479 Exceeding Expectations

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 22 - 23 March 2018, New York