Lot 150 An Archaic bronze drinking vessel, Gu, Late Shang Dynasty (1600-1100 BC). 8 1/2 in., 21.6 cm. Estimate 7,000 — 9,000 USD. Lot sold 8,400 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the wide trumpet mouth tapering to a waisted cylinder resting on a small flared foot, the middle section cast in relief with a pair of taotie masks divided down the center with raised flanges, all between upright plantain leaves and snakes around the neck and a further pair of masks around the foot, the dry surface with malachite and cuprite encrustation.

Note: This vessel displays all the main characteristics of the fully mature late Shang style, with well balanced divisions, slender stem and widely flaring mouth. See a related gu vessel, in the St. Louis Art Museum, illustrated in Ancient Chinese Bronzes, St. Louis, 1997, pl. 3. Compare also a gu of similar shape and design sold in these rooms, 24th March 1998, lot 524; and another sold in our London rooms, 16th June 1998, lot 2.