Page 31 - Christies IMportant Chinese Art Sept 26 2020 NYC

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE ASIAN
COLLECTION
1512
A RARE BRONZE RITUAL WINE
VESSEL, HU
SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, LATE
6TH-EARLY 5TH CENTURY BC
The vessel is raised on a ring foot cast in
imitation of twisted rope, and has a globular
lower body that tapers to a cylindrical neck
angled to one side. The body and neck are
cast with four bands of dense interlocking
scroll pattern, and one side is set with an
ear-shaped handle connected by a link chain
to the cover cast as a bird with raised head
and hinged beak above the feet which grasp
serpents.
12æ in. (32.3 cm.) high
$80,000-120,000
PROVENANCE:
Acquired in Hong Kong, 1990.

According to Jenny So in Eastern Zhou
Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler
Collections, vol. III, The Arthur M. Sackler
Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1995, p. 237,
hu of this type were made from the end of
the eighth century BC and disappeared by
the early fifth century BC. So discusses the
evolution of the shape during that period
and illustrates a number of hu to document
the changes, pp. 238-241, figs. 39.1 to 39.6.
One of these, fig. 39.5, from Shanxi Taiyuan
Jinshengcun M251, which is dated late 6th-
early 5th century BC, is most similar to the
present vessel. Like the present hu, there are
bands of dense scroll decoration around the
body and a bird with hinged beak forms the
cover. The handle, however, is in the shape
of the arched body of a mythical beast. The
author also notes, p. 237, a similar hu in the
Seligman collection, illustrated by William
Watson in Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London,
1962, pl. 77a. Like the present vessel, the
Seligman hu has a ring foot patterned to
imitate rope twist, and has similar bands of
flat-cast decoration, but only three instead
of four. The cover is also in the shape of a
seated bird with hinged beak. Another very
similar hu in the Meiyintang Collection is
illustrated by Christian Deydier in Chinese
Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.
1, Hong Kong, 2013, pp. 70-71, pl. 40, which
is dated circa 6th century BC. Unlike the
beak of the bird on the present hu, the beak
of the bird on the Meiyintang vessel is not
hinged. See, also, the similar hu in the Musée
Cernuschi, Paris, illustrated by Christian
Deydier, Les Bronzes Chinois, Paris, 1980,
p. 230, pl. 94, which is similarly dated 6th
century BC.

春秋 青銅鳥首匏形壺

29