Lot 103. An archaic bronze ritual food vessel and cover (gui), Late Western Zhou Dynasty, 9th-8th century BC. Width 15 in., 38.1 cm. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Lot sold 170,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's

raised on three paw feet issuing from stylized animal masks, cast in high relief on the splayed base decorated with a gadrooned border, the bombé form body with four horizontal grooves below a border of stylized hooked dragon motifs, centered on taotie and interrupted by large horned-animal masks issuing tabbed loop handles, the fitted domed cover similarly decorated and surmounted by a flared knop enclosing a coiled dragon medallion, the cover and interior with a long inscription that is under encrustation, overall with bright green and blue patina, Japanese wood box (3).

Property from The Masaki Museum of Art.

Provenance: Japanese Collection, acquired before the 1960s.