Note: The 'dou' shape derived from the ceramic form in Longshan cultural contexts of the late Neolithic period and continued in common use throughout the Shang and Zhou periods. Current lot with elaborate openwork design and lotus petal finials is also referred as 'fu', according to the research by Du Songnai from the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 9. Eastern Zhou 3, Beijing, 1997, p.18.

Compare an excavated example of a dou with domed cover but with similar pierced foot and surmounted with a lotus leaf finial on the cover, unearthed at the old city of Qufu, Shandong province, in 1932, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in ibid., Beijing, 1997, p.54, no.51; See also another inscribed bronze dou from Shangdong Yishui Luijiadianzi M1, dated to the second half of seventh century BC, illustrated by Jenny So, Ancient Chinese Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol.III, New York, p.182, fig.24.5.

Bonhams. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 24 November 2013