Lot 365. An unusual silver and copper-inlaid bronze wine vessel, hu, Warring States period, 4th-3rd century BC; 13 5/8 in. (34.5 cm.) high. Estimate USD 60,000 - USD 80,000. Price Realized: USD 92,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2008.

Of flask form, the rounded faceted body raised on a shallow pedestal foot and decorated on the sides with two registers of recessed panels cast in low relief with interlaced scrolls surrounded by a plain silver ground within 'cord' borders, the shoulder with a pair of mask handles suspending loose rings, and the waisted neck with dogtooth bands of silver inlay at top and bottom.

Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 10 November 2004, lot 502.

Note: It is extremely rare to find a bronze hu of this form with tall neck, and no other example appears to be published. The decoration, however, is well known on Eastern Zhou bronzes of the late Spring and Autumn period. J. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1995, pp. 244-7, illustrates several vessels with similar rope-twist borders, which she notes as representing nomadic influence, recalling the rope-slung containers carried by nomads on horseback or on foot. The author also illustrates, pp. 278-83, several late Eastern Zhou vessels decorated with similar registers of abstract curl patterns in low relief, as well as similar taotie masks suspending loose rings flanking the shoulders.  

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 17 September 2008. New York, Rockefeller Plaza