ritual food vessel

Lot 104. An archaic bronze ritual food vessel (Gui), Early Western Zhou dynasty. Width across handles 9¼ in., 23.8 cm. Estimate: 15,000 - 20,000 USD. Lot sold: 44,100 USD. © Sothebys. Provenance: Collection of Dr Wou Kiuan (1910-1997). Wou Lien-Pai Museum, 1968-present, coll. no. E.6.5.  Literature: Rose Kerr et al., Chinese Antiquities from the Wou Kiuan Collection. Wou Lien-Pai Museum, Hong Kong, 2011, pl. 8. Note: The cast vertical bands of decoration seen on... [Lire la suite]

Lot 6. A rare inscribed archaic bronze ritual food vessel (Ding), Late Western Zhou dynasty-Early Spring and Autumn. Width 14⅛ in., 36 cm. Estimate: 100,000 - 150,000 USD. Lot sold: 567,000 USD. © Sothebys. the interior cast with a twenty-seven-character inscription reading wei bayue chuji gengshen Dai Shu Zhen zizuo fending qi wannian wujiang zizi sunsun yongbaoyongzhi. Provenance: Collection of Fang Huanjing. Collection of Fei Nianci (1855-1905). Collection of Liu... [Lire la suite]

Lot 15. A bronze ritual food vessel (gui), Early Western Zhou dynasty, 11th-10th century BC. Length 11 5/8  in., 29.5 cm. Lot Sold: 125,000 USD. (Estimate: 30,000 – 50,000 USD). © Sotheby's 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... [Lire la suite]

Lot 832. A large archaic bronze ritual food vessel, yan, Eastern Zhou dynasty (770-221 BC); h. 41.8 cm. Lot sold: 201,600 HKD (Estimate: 150,000-200,000 HKD). © Sotheby's. Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong in the 1990s. Sotheby's. Chinese Art Online: A Private Asian Collection, Hong Kong, 3 December 2021

Lot 38. An archaic bronze ritual food vessel (Gui), Late Shang dynasty. Diameter 10 in., 25.5 cm. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 USD. Lot sold: 25,200 USD. © Sotheby's 2021 supported on a tall splayed foot, the wide U-shaped body rising to an everted rim, the central body boldly cast with a wide band of studded bosses arranged in lozenge panels composed of elongated leiwen, surmounted by a narrow band of kuilong with bulging eyes against... [Lire la suite]

Lot 35. An inscribed archaic bronze ritual food vessel (Liding), Late Shang - Early Western Zhou dynasty. Height 8½ in., 21.6 cm. Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 USD. Lot sold: 252,000 USD. © Sotheby's 2021 the deep bowl divided into three lobes each resting on a columnar leg tapering slightly toward the foot, the everted rim set with a pair of plain loop handles, each lobe of the body finely cast with a taotie mask with protruding eyes and horns, flanked... [Lire la suite]

Lot 32. An archaic bronze ritual food vessel (Gui), Late Shang - Early Western Zhou dynasty. Diameter 12 in., 30.5 cm. Estimate: 60,000 - 80,000 USD. Unsold. © Sotheby's 2021 the deep rounded sides cast with a band of vertical ribs below a frieze of alternating mythical beast masks and whorls further separated by two horned mythical beast masks cast in high relief, the sides framed by a pair of D-form handles issuing from bovine masks and set with pendent tabs, all supported on a tall... [Lire la suite]

Lot 27. An important archaic bronze ritual food vessel (Ding), Western Zhou dynasty, probably King Xuan period (c. 827- c. 782 BC). Diameter 12⅞ in., 32.9 cm. Estimate: 300,000 - 500,000 USD. Lot sold: 1,835,000 USD. © Sotheby's 2021 well cast with the deep rounded body supported on three cabriole legs, the lipped rim set with a pair of upright loop handles, the exterior decorated with a band of horizontal concentric lappets, the interior cast with a... [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 5059. An archaic bronze ritual food vessel, li, Late Western Zhou dynasty; h. 19 cm, with two X-rays. Estimate: 30,000 - 50,000 HKD. Lot sold: 604,800 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's. Provenance: Acquired in Japan, late 1990s, by repute. Sotheby's. Chinese Art Online, including a Private Hong Kong Collection, Hong Kong, 2 July 2021