Lot 153. An archaic bronze vessel, gui, Late Shang-Early Western Zhou; 7in (17.8cm) across, cloth wrap, wood box. Sold for US$ 24,062 (€ 20,546). © Bonhams 2001-2021

Of deep bowl form with an everted rim and high waisted foot, the central band cast with short pointed bosses each set into a leiwen patterned ground below narrow frieze of leiwen and zoomorphs under the flared rim and more widely spaced taotie masks at the waisted foot, malachite and earthen encrustation throughout.

Property from the Robert and Mee-Din Moore Collection.

Note: A gui of identical size and of similar type, from the Arthur Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. (V384) is illustrated by Christian Deydier, Les Bronzes Archaiques Chinois, Archaic Chinese Bronzes, I, Xia & Shang, Paris, 1995, p. 269, no. 1. Another handled version, again similarly cast with diamond-shaped lozenges centered by bosses and dated to the Shang dynasty, see Jessica Rawson, The Bella and P.P. Chiu Collection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1988, pp. 62-63, no. 19.

See a closely related related vessel sold in our London rooms, The H Collection, 13 May 2021, Lot 7; and another sold in our New York rooms, 14 March 2016, lot 8094.

Bonhams. Chinese Ceramics, Works of Art and Paintings, New York, 20 Sep 2021