Lot 466. An archaic bronze wine vessel and cover, zhi, Western Zhou dynasty; 20.5cm high. Estimate HK$250,000 - 350,000. Sold for HK$ 562,500 (€ 67,049). Courtesy Bonhams

Slightly compressed and rising from an oval recessed foot, the wide body with waisted neck ending in a flared rim, decorated with bands of geometric borders with upward archaistic leaf lappets at the neck, flanked at the sides with a pair of narrow vertical looped handles, the domed cover further decorated with archaistic motifs ending in a trapezoid taotie finial.

Note: See an excavated example of similar form also decorated with archaistic plantain motif which seems to be the prototype for the current lot, in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 2. Shang 2, Beijing, 1997, p.137, no.133, and another similar zhi vessel illustrated by Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, New York, 1987, p.303, fig.49.20.

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