Lot 1. A small Chinese bronze ritual tripod food vessel, li, Western Zhou dynasty (1100-771 BC); 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 20,000 - GBP 30,000. Price realised GBP 25,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Raised on three supports leading up into each deep lobe of the body, cast to each side with the eyes of a stylised taotie mask decorated with C-scrolls all below the everted rim with a pair of upright handles, the surface with areas of malachite encrustation.

Provenance: Archer Eskenasy Collection, Paris, acquired in Hong Kong in the early 1990s.
Martin Douster, Brussels, 2009, acquired from the above.