Provenance: Acquired in Palm Desert, California in 1998.  

Note: A very similar xian excavated in 1972 from a Western Zhou tomb in Liujiacun, Fufeng county, Shaanxi province, is illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 5 - Xi Zhou (1), Beijing, 1996, p. 43, no. 46. Also illustrated, p. 42, no. 45, is another similar xian excavated in 1974 in Yangjiabao, Fufeng county, Shaanxi province, which has a similar taotie band cast in intaglio below the mouth rim, but lacks the cast designs accentuating the features of the bovine masks set atop each leg, such as those seen on the present xian and the other aforementioned example from Liujiacun.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part I and Part II Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 24 March 2011