Lot 466. A fine and rare archaic bronze ritual ewer and cover, he, Eastern Zhou dynasty; 25.6cm high. Estimate HK$450,000 - 650,000. Sold for HK$ 600,000 (€ 71,519). Courtesy Bonhams

Cast on three straight feet flattened at the ends and issuing from raised animal head finials, the vessel of a compressed globular form with two raised horizontal ribs featuring three bands of frieze decorated with archaistic scrolls and kui dragons in relief, one side showing a slender 'S'-shaped mythical beast spout, the shoulders with arched handles above a flat cylindrical cover attached to the body with a linked chain.

Note: See an excavated example unearthed at Pingshan, Hebei province, in 1977 in the Cultural Relics Institute, Hebei province, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 9. Eastern Zhou 3, Beijing, 1997, p.163, no.160. See also another excavated example dated to the late Spring and Autumn period, unearthed in Henan province in 1978, in the Cultural Relics Institute, Hebei province, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 11. Eastern Zhou 5, Beijing, 1997, p.48, no.49; and another in the Shanghai Museum, also illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 11. Eastern Zhou 5, Beijing, 1997, p.47, no.48. Compare also another excavated example example in dated to the late sixth to early fifth century BC, unearthed in Shanxi Changzhi Fenshuiling M270, illustrated by Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Scakler Collections. Volume III, New York, 1995, p.411, fig.84.4.

Bonhams. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 24 November 2013