Lot 988. A bronze ritual tripod wine vesse, jue, Late Shang dynasty, 13th-12th century BC; 7½ in. (19 cm.) high. Estimate $20,000 - USD 30,000. Price realised USD 50,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014
The vessel is raised on three blade-form supports, and the sides are finely cast with twotaotie masks formed by pairs of addorsed birds, one mask is centered by a narrow flange, the other by an inscription cast under the handle. A pair of capped posts decorated with whorls rise from the rim. The bronze has a mottled, milky green patina with some malachite and azurite encrustation..
Provenance: The Collection of Marjorie Bissinger, San Francisco, acquired 1950s-90s.
Bonham's San Francisco, 27 June 2000, lot 3397.
Note: The inscription cast under the handle consists of a figure of a dog set within a ya.
Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 – 19 September 2014, New York, Rockefeller Plaza
