Lot 60. An archaic bronze vessel and cover, You, Western Zhou Dynasty, 11th-10th century BC. Height 13 1/2  in., 34.3 cm. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 USD. Lot sold 60,000 USD. © Sotheby's

the pear-shaped body, eliptical in cross section, with a domed cover and movable handle, three decorative registers on cover, neck and molded foot, with the cover and foot bearing identical motifs of two pairs of confronting crested birds with long raised tails, the register on the neck with eight birds, in relief against a background of fine spirals (leiwen), four dragons on the handles and two horned animal heads at the terminal, the lower body divided by raised bands into eight sections, centred by diamond-shaped bosses, the inscription inside the base and the cover reading jue fu gui, covered with green malachite encrustation . 

Provenance: Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, New York, 1980.
Gerald Godfrey, London, June 16, 1987.

Literature: Christian Deydier, Chinese Bronzes, New York, 1980, p. 53, no. 33.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York, 19 march 2013