Lot 28. An inscribed archaic bronze ritual wine vessel (Zhi), Late Shang dynasty. Height 6¾ in., 17.1 cm. Estimate: 25,000 - 35,000 USD. Lot sold: 47,880 USD. © Sotheby's 2021

the slender elongated pear-shaped body supported on a tall spreading foot and rising to a flaring mouth, the body cast with two taotie masks in relief, all between double fillets encircling the neck and foot, the interior with an inscription Tianmin fu gui (Tianmin, father Gui), Japanese wood box.

Note: See two zhi with a similar Tianmin clan inscription as the present bronze, one in National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of inscriptions and images of bronzes from Shang and Zhou dynasties], vol. 19, Shanghai, 2012, no. 10535, the other formerly in the collection of Wu Shifen and Pan Zuying, now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in ibid., no. 10539.