Lot 144. An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel (gu), Late Shang Dynasty, 13th - 11th century BC. Height 10 3/4 in., 27.4 cm. Estimate 15,000 — 20,000 USD. Lot sold 56,250 USD. Photo Sotheby's

of slender form cast with four blades on the trumpet neck, the middle section and spreading foot cast with taotie masks with protuberant eyes against a leiwen ground and divided by vertical flanges, the lower section encircled by a pair of bow string bands interrupted by a cruciform, vertical and horizontal openings, areas of malachite encrustation, the patina a silvery gray-green, Japanese wood box (2).

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 11 september 2012