Lot 260. An inscribed archaic bronze ritual wine vessel (Gu), Late Shang dynasty (c. 1500-1050 BC). Height 11½ in., 29.3 cm. Lot sold: 12,600 USD (Estimate: 15,000 - 20,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2022
cast to the interior of the foot with a clan pictogram reading Jiu guan.
Property from a New York Private Collection.
Provenance: Collection of Mrs. Dagny Carter (d. 1970), acquired in 1931.
Collection of Mrs. G.G. Scranton, acquired between 1932-1939.
American Private Collection.
Note: A small group of bronzes from the same clan have been recorded. See for example, another late Shang dynasty bronze gu, inscribed with the same clan pictogram, published in The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Yinzhou jinwen jicheng[Compendium of Yin and Zhou bronze inscriptions], Beijing, 2007, no. 07030.
Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 september 2022
