Lot 160. An archaic bronze ritual steamer vessel (yan), Late Shang-Early Western Zhou dynasty, 11th century BC. Height 14 1/4 in., 36 cm. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Lot sold 34,375 USD. Photo Sotheby's

comprising two sections, the upper of deep U-shape rising to a flared rim and encircled by a three pairs of taotie confronting on narrow flanges, the rim with two upright loop handles, the lower section with three legs of conjoined large-horned taotie of lobed form tapering to slender columns, the interior with a dividing grill hinged at one side opposite a loop handle and pierced with five cross-shaped apertures, a four-character inscription on the interior reading 'Bo zuo zun yi', the patina a mottled brown-green with patches of encrustation (2).

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 14th September 2005, lot 800.

Note: A similar steamer, excavated from an early Western Zhou tomb at Gaojiabao, Jingyang county, Shaanxi province, is illustrated in Wenwu, 1972, no. 7, p. 8, fig. 10; one excavated at Shuiku, Bojiayao, Fufeng county, also in Shaanxi, is published in Wenwu, 1977, no. 12, p. 85, fig. 12; and two others from Shanwanzi, Kazuo county, Liaoning province, ibid., p. 32, figs. 50 and 52.