ritual food vessel

Until about 4000 years ago, various peoples occupied the regions along the Yellow River and the Yangzi, and the east coast of modern China. The earliest documented dynasty was the Shang (around 1600-1050 BC), based in central north China. In this period society developed a religious system and written records. The material culture of the Shang dynasty is notable for its cast bronze ritual vessels. These are the only examples of early metalwork to be cast from piece moulds rather than assembled from sheets of beaten metal. Casting was... [Lire la suite]

A Selection of Archaic Bronzes. Photo Sotheby's NEW YORK - Sotheby’s is delighted to present a group of significant archaic bronze vessels from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, together with a handscroll of rubbings taken from actual bronzes that were once in the collection of the celebrated collector Wu Dacheng (1835-1902). It is very rare for such a scroll to appear at auction, and several of the bronzes came from famous Chinese collectors of the 18th-19th centuries. These bronzes have been recorded in various... [Lire la suite]

A bronze ritual food vessel (gui), Early Western Zhou Dynasty, 11th-10th century BC. Photo: Sothebys. boldly cast with a swelling body below an everted rim with a band of eight archaistic kui dragons between bow-string borders and divided into four pairs by a small animal mask on each side, the vessel flanked by a pair of loop handles each issuing from a bovine mask and terminating in a hooked pendent tab, a similar band of kui dragons confronted on a stylized mask encircling the slightly... [Lire la suite]

An Archaic Bronze Ritual Food Vessel (dui), Warring States Period, 4th century BC. Photo Sotheby's the rounded body with a short waisted neck rising to a flat everted rim and with a pair of small ring handles to either side, cast in relief with three rows of smooth bosses, all supported on three short cabriole legs, the patina a silvery gray-green with light patches of encrustation, Japanese wood box (2). Width 10 in., 25.5 cm - ESTIMATION 60,000-80,000 USD PROVENANCE: Old... [Lire la suite]

An Archaic Bronze Ritual Food Vessel (gui), Early Western Zhou Dynasty, 10th Century BC. Photo Sotheby's cast with a swelling body below an everted rim with a band of archaic phoenix reserved on a leiwen ground confronting a small stylized animal mask on each side, the vessel flanked by a pair of loop handles each surmounted by a bovine mask and terminating in a hooked pendent tab, the mottled silvery-green patina with areas of malachite and azurite encrustation, wood stand, Japanese wood box... [Lire la suite]

A Rare Archaic Bronze 'Double Owl' Ritual Food Vessel (you). Late Shang Dynasty, 13th-11th Century BC. Photo Sotheby's of oval section in the form of two addorsed owls, their rounded bodies supported on four stout legs, cast in low relief with four wings of simple curvilinear outline separated by a pair of ring handles, the domed fitted cover cast on each side with a pair of large round domed eyes centered on a sharp hooked beak, the heads further adorned with two pairs of C-shaped ears, all below a... [Lire la suite]

An Impressive Archaic Bronze Ritual Food Vessel (pou). Middle - Late Shang Dynasty, 14th-13th Century BC. Photo Sotheby's of ovoid form rising to a short tapering neck cast with a pair of bowstring bands below the everted rim and resting on a high, slightly splayed foot, the central band crisply cast with a series of three taotie patterns centering a low narrow ridge, surmounted by a band of confronting kui dragons, the pattern echoing the rear section of the taotie below, and divided by three... [Lire la suite]

An archaic bronze ritual food vessel, gui, and a bronze wine vessel, jue. Western Zhou Period The gui of bombé form rising to the flared rim, flanked by loop handles emerging from the jaws of horned dragons, supported on a tall splayed foot, the body cast with ribs below a band with two pairs of confronted dragons interrupted by a raised mask of a hare, the foot similarly cast with two pairs of confronted dragons, the handles with C scrolls, 25cm (9¾in) wide; and a jue, raised on three blades rising to the tall beaker with... [Lire la suite]

A fine bronze ritual food vessel 'gui', China, early Western Zhou dynasty B. 30,5 cm. Est. 30 000 EUR.  Provenance: Former Earl Morse collection, exhibited Metropolitan Museum of Art N.Y., 'The Morse Collection of Ancient Chinese Art', 1982, publ. in the catalogue p. 28, no. 13 Nagel Auctions. Asian Art. 8th May 2009. www.auction.de