WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (1100-771 BC)

Details

A BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD FOOD VESSEL AND A COVER, GUI
WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (1100-771 BC)
The body is cast with horizontal grooves between a band of stylised scrolls to the rim and foot and is applied with two animal-head C-form handles. The vessel is supported on three claw-form feet with animal heads to the top. The matched cover is decorated with a further band of archaistic scrolls. There is an inscription to the interior base of the vessel and a later-added inscription to the interior of the cover.
13 ¾ in. (34.9 cm.) wide

Provenance

Acquired in London prior to 1986.
The Michael Michaels Collection of Early Chinese Art.

Brought to you by

Leila de vos van Steenwijk

ldevos@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2518

Lot Essay

The inscription to the interior of the base can be read 'in the gengyin date of the fourth month during the jisipo moon phase (the fourth quarter), Zhen made Yi this precious gui vessel. May his sons and grandsons use it for ten thousand years.'
Compare the current vessel to a gui of similar form, supported on three feet and with comparable horizontal grooves characteristic of the late Western Zhou dynasty, illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, p. 446, no. 57.

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