Lot 1016. A rare archaistic gold and silver-inlaid bronze pear-shaped vase, hu, Song dynasty, 11th-13th century; 7¼ in. (18 cm.) high. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 50,000. Price realised USD 81,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014

The well-proportioned vessel is decorated in gold and silver inlay with an allover diamond pattern filled with scrolls above a band of diagonally arranged scrolls on the rounded foot. A pair of inlaid mask and flat ring handles flank the shoulder. There are areas of dark green patination. The base is cast with a diamond grid pattern.

Provenance: Heber Reginald Bishop (1840-1902).
James Cunningham Bishop (1870-1932).
Mary Cunningham Bishop Peabody (1893-1980).
James Bishop Peabody (1922-1977), and thence by descent to the present owner.

Note: The shape and inlaid decoration of this vase are similar to those of Warring States period prototypes, such as the example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Ming S. Wilson in 'Archaic Chinese Bronzes in the Victoria & Albert Museum', Chinese Bronzes: Selected articles from Orientations 1983-2000, p. 195, fig. 14. Other comparable inlaid bronze hu, also dated to the Song dynasty include one of somewhat different hu shape illustrated by M. Goedhuis in Chinese and Japanese Bronzes, A.D. 1100-1900, London, 1989, no. 77; one with similar pattern and rounded foot, dated Song-Ming Dynasty, from J.T. Tai & Co., sold at Sotheby's New York, 22 March 2011, lot 229; and another in the British Museum, illustrated by R. Soame Jenyns and W. Watson in Chinese Art II, New York, 1980, pp. 90-91, no. 56.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 18 - 19 September 2014