Page 32 - Bonhams GANBEI A Toast To Wine Culture, Hong Kong Nov 30 2022

This massive wine vessel with its dramatic crown-shaped cover is a
magnificent example of the flamboyant style of bronze vessels that
was developed in the latter part of the Western Zhou dynasty and
continued to become even more elaborate in the early Eastern Zhou
dynasty.
For the development of this unique form and decoration, compare a
‘Spring and Autumn’ period hu vessel excavated in Shanxi province, Xi
County, but with eight everted reticulated lappets encircling the cover,
illustrated in The Complete Collection of Bronzes Unearthed in China,
Beijing, 2018, vol.4, p.410, pl.340; a late Spring and Autumn period
Huanzi Mengjiang hu vessel in the Shanghai Museum collection with
the cover missing, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [Complete
Collection of Chinese Archaic Bronzes], Beijing, 1998, vol.9, p.24,
pl.23. The same detached C-scrolls on the present vessel remain in
vogue from the mid Western Zhou dynasty to the ‘Spring and Autumn’
period, compare with the body of a Western Zhou dynasty King
Xiao period Xiaoke ding vessel in the Shanghai Museum collection,
illustrated by P.F. Chen in Xiashangzhou qingtongqi yanjiu: XiZhou pian
(The Study of Archaic Bronzes in the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties:
Western Zhou Dynasty), vol.1, Shanghai, 2004, p.247, pl.300. The
reticulated design of the dragon-head handles appears also on a
Western Zhou dynasty bronze ‘dragon’ handles hu in the Shanghai
Museum collection, illustrated in ibid., p.534, pl.411; yet such design is
more commonly seen on ‘Spring and Autumn’ period hu vessels, see
two further comparable examples of a mid ‘Spring and Autumn’ period
kui dragon square-sectioned vase in the National Museum of China,
and a late Spring and Autumn period cai hou square-sectioned vase in
the Anhui Provincial Museum, both illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi
quanji (Complete Collection of Chinese Archaic Bronzes), Beijing,
1998, vols.7 and 8, pls.74 and 62.

Image courtesy of Shanxi Xi County Museum Other massive hu vessels with handles issuing from reticulated dragon
山西隰縣博物館藏 heads, and with a body decorated with detached C-scrolls and cover
flanged with everted reticulated lappets excavated in Hubei were
published in The Complete Collection of Bronzes Unearthed in China,
Beijing, 2018, vol.12, pls.225, 314 and 315; see also a related bronze
hu vessel sold at Sotheby’s New York, 15 September 2011, lot 1118.

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