Lot 166. An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel and cover (you), Early Western Zhou Dynasty, 10th Century BC. Height 9 1/2 in., 23.4 cm. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Lot sold 146,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's

of rounded elliptical section, supported on a broad, thinly cast and slightly splayed footrim, the body decorated with a frieze of two paired birds with long hooked tails in relief on a leiwen ground confronted on a high-relief bovine mask, with two loops on the bail handle concealed by two further bovine heads, the fitted cover with plain slightly concave sides and a pair of neat bowstrings with everted tabs at either end, below a bud-form knop, with a five-character inscription reading Cong fu zu zun yi (Shu made Father Yi this precious vessel) within the cover and the base of the vessel, with wood stand and Japanese box (4).

Provenance: Japanese Collection formed before World War II.