Gu

  Lot 148. An archaic bronze wine vessel, Gu, Late Shang-Early Western Zhou, 13th-11th centuries BCE; 10in (25.4cm) high. Estimate US$ 70,000 - 90,000  (€ 59,000 - 76,000). Unsold. © Bonhams 2001-2021 The central drum-shaped section and the lower body brilliantly and finely cast with a tight leiwen ground with occasional small bosses indicating taotie and simplified dragon motives, the central section and short spreading foot divided by a thin band pierced... [Lire la suite]

To compile a collection of Chinese archaic bronzes as comprehensive and varied as that of Barry MacLean is a remarkable feat. It is weapons and tools made of bronze that define the Bronze Age – as against the Stone or the Iron Age – but the repertoire of ancient China’s bronze casters was vast. To showcase their ingenuity and inventiveness is clearly what Barry MacLean had in mind, when he assembled this group. The classic ritual vessels and bells that were used in the ancestral ceremonies of the Shang (c.1600-1046 BC) and Zhou... [Lire la suite]

Lot 1048. A pair of archaic bronze ritual wine vessels, Gu, Late Shang dynasty (581-907); h. 30.7cm. Estimate: 380,000 - 480,000 HKD. Unsold. (C) 2021 Sotheby's Provenance: Hartman Rare Art, New York, 2012. Lot 1056. An archaic bronze ritual water vessel, Yu, Late Shang dynasty (581-907); d. 26.2 cm, h. 18 cm. Estimate: 100,000 - 120,000 HKD. Unsold. (C) 2021 Sotheby's Provenance: Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, 2012. Lot 1058. A pair of... [Lire la suite]

Lot  324. A blue and white 'Lotus' vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722), Marque apocryphe de l'empereur Xuande à la base. Hauteur: 37 cm. (14 1⁄2 in.). Estimate EUR 2,000 - EUR 3,000. Price Realised EUR 68,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021 Note: See a similar vase in the Collections of the Palace Museum, The Forbidden City, Beijing, pl. 271, page 418.Also see in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Alfred and Margaret... [Lire la suite]

Lot 5050. An inscribed archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, gu, Late Shang dynasty; h. 28.5 cm, with two X-rays. Estimate: 100,000 - 150,000 HKD. Lot sold: 378,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's. Sotheby's. Chinese Art Online, including a Private Hong Kong Collection, Hong Kong, 2 July 2021

Lot 641. A large and rare archaistic cloisonné enamel lozenge-shaped vase, gu, Early 18th century; 46.5cm (18 2/8in) high. Estimate £3,000 - £5,000. Sold for £ 35,250 (€ 40,986). © Bonhams 2001-2021. The vase of lozenge section, cast as an archaic vessel with vertical flanges on the corners decorated with key-fret designs, the bulging mid-section with stylised taotie masks, the lower and upper sections similarly decorated with hanging plantain leaves dividing lotus sprays borne on tendrils, the... [Lire la suite]

  In 1991 Sydney L. Moss Ltd. published “The Second Bronze Age: Later Chinese Metalwork”, an exhibition catalogue whose time we felt had come. We had managed to gather together a coherent group for a focused show, including its fair share of star works. It was quite a successful foray. At that time we had recently experienced London dealer Michael Goedhuis’ 1989 show of Chinese and Japanese bronzes, and Rose Kerr’s 1990 book for the Victoria & Albert Museum, “Later Chinese Bronzes”. Discussions about metalwork hung... [Lire la suite]

Lot 161. A famille-rose 'bajixiang' altar vase (Gu), Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Height 10 ½ in., 26.8 cm. Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 USD. Lot sold: 12,600 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's. of archaistic gu form, finely modeled with a trumpet neck above a central bulb and a bell-shaped foot, the neck decorated with four of the 'Eight Buddhist Emblems' interspersed with leafy lotus scrolls between a band of pendent ruyi heads above and border of stylized... [Lire la suite]

 Lot 501. A finely cast bronze ritual wine vessel, gu, late Shang dynasty, 12th-11th century BC; 12 in. (30.4 cm.) high. Estimate USD 80,000 - USD 120,000. Price realised USD 187,500. © Christie's 2021  The trumpet neck of the slender vessel is decorated with four elongated blades crisply cast in relief with a dissolved taotie mask on a leiwen ground that rise from a narrow band of four kui dragons with hooked beaks and upturned tails. The... [Lire la suite]

  Lot 1003. An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, gu, Late Shang Dynasty; h. 28.6 cm. Estimate: 70,000 - 90,000 HKD. Lot sold: 189,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's. Provenance: Estate of Dr and Mrs Richard Eckhardt, acquired in Japan between 1947 and 1952. Sotheby's New York, 11th September 2012, lot 153. Sotheby's. Chinese Art Including Property from the Collection of Cheng Huan, Hong Kong, 18 December 2020