Shang Dynasty

Lot 3180. A small bronze ritual wine vessel, gu, Shang dynasty, 13th-12th century BC; 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) high. Estimate $15,000 - USD 20,000. Price realised $20,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015. The trumpet-shaped neck is undecorated while the middle section, which is set between double bow-string borders, is flat-cast with taotie masks formed by pairs of downward-facing birds with prominent pupils and quills stacked below the coiled tail. Four birds of similar type,... [Lire la suite]

'Portrait of Anna Rice Cooke (1853-1934)', oil on canvas painting by Frederic Yates (1854-1919), 1910, Honolulu Academy of Arts. Mrs. Cooke was born into a prominent missionary family in Hawaii, where she spent the majority of her life. She and her husband, Charles Montague Cooke, were well known amongst the societal elite in Hawaii, and were eventually responsible for the establishment of the Honolulu Academy of the Arts, now called the Honolulu Museum of Art. In the early 1880s, the Cookes built their family home on... [Lire la suite]

Lot 2004. A mottled greenish-grey and dark brown jade axe, Neolithic period or Shang dynasty, circa 2000-1600 BC; 2 1/8 in. (5.5 cm.) wide. Estimate USD 7,000 - USD 10,000. Price Realized USD 8,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.  The thick blade flares towards the softly beveled cutting edge, and has a biconical hafting hole, and a smaller conical hole drilled at the opposite butt end where the corners are rounded. The pale greenish-grey areas of the stone are semi-translucent while... [Lire la suite]

Lot 2010. A small bronze bell, nao, Shang dynasty, Anyang, 12th-11th century BC; 6 1/8 in. (15.5 cm.) high. Estimate USD 35,000 - USD 45,000. Price Realized USD 62,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.  Of lenticular section, each side is cast in high relief with a taotie mask with buffalo horns below a square panel (striking area). The hollow, tapering shank opens into the base of the bell, and the interior wall is cast with a two-character inscription, wood box. ... [Lire la suite]

Lot 2008. A bronze ritual wine vessel, jue, Shang dynasty, 13th-12th century BC; 8 1/8 in. (20.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. Price Realized USD 11,875. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.  The deep body is raised on three tall blade-form supports and is cast on the sides with three bow-string bands interrupted under the handle by a two-character inscription, bing ding. A pair of posts with conical caps rises from the rim either side of the long spout. The bronze has a... [Lire la suite]

Lot 3641. A bronze ritual wine vessel, gu, Shang dynasty, 13th century BC; 9½ in. (24 cm.) high. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price Realized USD 11,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.  The vessel has a plain, trumpet-shaped neck above a center section bordered by double bow-string lines and cast with two taotie masks composed of fine tight scrolls and centered on narrow flanges above a scroll border and two further large, similarly cast taotie masks on the spreading... [Lire la suite]

Haniwa horse head, Japan, Kofun Period, 6th century. Earthenware. H 46 cm. © Galerie Christian Deydier. Taotie mask, China, Shang Dynasty, 12th-11th century BC. Bronze with green patina. H 18 cm. © Galerie Christian Deydier. Dancer, China, Han Dynasty, 206 BC-220 AD. Earthenware with traces of polychromy. H 48 cm. © Galerie Christian Deydier.

Lot 1222. A bronze ritual wine vessel, gu, Shang dynasty, Anyang, 12th century BC; 10 1/8 in. (26 cm.) high. Estimate 50,000 - USD 70,000. Price realised USD 123,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 The tall, slender vessel is crisply cast in low relief on the trumpet-shaped neck with four blades filled with inverted masks above a narrow band of angular snakes, and on the center section and the spreading foot with taotie masks divided and separated by notched flanges. Those on the foot are set... [Lire la suite]

Lot 145. A very rare bronze owl-form covered vessel, xiaoyou, Shang dynasty, 12th-11th century BC; 9 in. (22.9 cm.) long. Estimate 600,000 - USD 800,000. Price realised USD 511,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2004 Well cast in the form of two addorsed owls, their plump bodies forming the vessel, raised on four stout legs ending in clawed feet and cast in soft relief with simplified wings sweeping back from their rounded breasts to a pair of rings attached to the rope-twist handle, the domed... [Lire la suite]

Lot 1217. An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, gu, Shang dynasty, 13th-12th century BC; 11½ in. (29.2 cm.) high. Estimate USD 40,000 - USD 60,000. Price realised USD 60,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 The tall slender vessel is divided into three sections. The trumpet-shaped upper body is crisply cast with four upright cicada blades, and the central section and spreading foot are decorated with a dense leiwen and taotie-pattern band divided by four vertical ribbed flanges, and... [Lire la suite]