The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung. Lot 106. An inscribed archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, zun, Late Shang - Western Zhou dynasty; h. 21.8 cm. Lot sold: 693,000 HKD (Estimate: 400,000 - 600,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022

well cast with a slightly bulging midsection rising from a splayed foot to a wide trumpet neck, cast around the body in crisp relief with two animal masks against a background of thunder patterns (leiwen) between bow-string bands, each mask flanked by kui dragons shown in profile, the interior cast with two characters reading ran mu ('mother of the Ran clan').

Provenance: P.C. Lu & Sons, Ltd, Hong Kong, 15th October 1987.

Literature: Jessica Rawson and Emma C. Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1990, cat. no. 13.

Exhibited: Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1990. 

Sotheby's. HOTUNG The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung: Part 1, Hong Kong, 9 October 2022