ritual wine vessel

A magnificent and brilliantly enamelled wucai 'fish' jar. Jiajing six-character mark and of the period, 40.8cm diam. (2). HK$14,000,000-16,000,000. Photo: Bonhams. HONG KONG.- The Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art auction, offering 452 lots, is the largest sale in the Bonhams Hong Kong 2013 Spring Auctions series. A carefully curated collection of Chinese works of art sourced from around the world, the sale includes all the major categories that reflect the long history and rich diversity of Chinese art. In addition to a... [Lire la suite]

An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel (gu) Late Shang Dynasty, 13th-11th century BC - Sotheby's the tall, slim body, with flaring mouth and molded conical foot; the upper body with four elongated upright blades, filled with dissolved taotie mask in relief against a background of dense spirals, four snakes placed between the waist and neck, the waist and lower part also decorated with taotie mask and cicadas in relief against a ground of spirals, divided by four evenly spaced flanges, two... [Lire la suite]

An Archaic Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel (gu). Late Shang Dynasty, 13th-12th century BC. Photo Sotheby's of slender, waisted form, crisply cast around the mid-section and splayed foot with pairs of taotie masks with raised eyes on a fine leiwen ground, centered by notched flanges and divided by a pair of bowstrings interrupted by two cruciform and two vertical apertures, the tall flared neck encircled by a narrow spiral bound below four upright triangular blades enclosing highly stylized angular... [Lire la suite]

An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel (Zun). Late Shang Dynasty-Early Western Zhou Dynasty, 11th century BC. photo courtesy Sotheby"s of tall circular form with a wide trumpet mouth and raised splayed foot, the long flared neck plain, the central bulb cast in low relief with a frieze of confronting dragons, divided and interspersed with notched vertical flanges, between narrow bands of circles, the lower bulb cast with a similar design frieze, the bronze a warm golden-brown patina with patches of green malachite and red... [Lire la suite]

A gold-splashed bronze ritual wine vessel, jue. Late Ming Dynasty Raised on three blade-form supports, the deep body crisply cast with a band of two large taotie masks on a leiwen ground separated by flanges, one side with a loop handle issuing from a bovine mask, the spout flanked by two posts surmounted by removeable waisted caps, the rounded base incised with a five-character inscription in archaic script. 23.5cm (9 1/4in) high. Estimate: HK$120,000 - 150,000, $15,000 - 19,000 - Unsold. Footnote: The inscription can be... [Lire la suite]

A gold-splashed bronze ritual wine vessel, jia. Ming Dynasty Cast with a bulbous mid-section and trumpet neck, supported on three triangular blade legs, the body decorated with a band of taotie masks on a leiwen ground, divided by two notched vertical flanges, the neck with five upright triangular lappets each enclosing two trigrams, with two vertical posts rising from the mouth rim, applied with a separately cast bovine-head handle, fitted with removable metal liner, the base inscribed with five-character inscription in... [Lire la suite]

An Archaic Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel, Jue. Shang Dynasty supported on three splayed legs, the deep U-shaped body with long channelled spout opposite a raised pointed rim, crisply cast around the exterior in low relief with a taotie mask band divided to one side by a vertical flange and to the other with loop handle issuing from a bovine mask, the rim set with a pair of rectangular posts capped by conical finials decorated with whorl patters, cast with two pictograms below the handle, the metal patinated to a dark brownish-grey... [Lire la suite]

A Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel, gu. Shang dynasty, 13th-12th century BC The trumpet-shaped neck with four upright blades flat-cast with inverted taotie masks reserved on a leiwen ground, above a narrow band of long-tailed birds, the middle section with two taotie masks with boss-like eyes divided and separated by slender notched flanges repeated on the spreading foot cast with a narrow band of confronted birds above a band of two pairs of confronted dragons, with mottled green patina and areas of malachite encrustation. 10¾ in.... [Lire la suite]

An important and rare bronze ritual wine vessel, zun. Early Shang Dynasty, Zhengzhou phase, 14-13ème siècle avant JC. Raised on a spreading pedestal foot encircled by three bow-string bands interrupted by three quatrefoil apertures, the tapering rounded body flat cast with three taotie masks with circular boss eyes and flanked by outward-facing dragons shown in profile, between narrow borders of circles, each taotie mask positioned below a dragon mask cast in crisp relief that extends over the edge of the sloping shoulder to... [Lire la suite]