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PROPERTY FROM A SAN FRANCISCO PRIVATE COLLECTION Compare the present vessel to an example illustrated in
Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur
A BRONZE RITUAL WATER VESSEL (YI)
M. Sackler Collections, Washington D.C., 1990, pl. 120, and sold
LATE WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 8TH at Christie’s New York, 25th-26th March 2010, lot 1009, where
CENTURY BC Rawson notes that the form appears late in the dynasty and
an early iteration of the form is inscribed as a he or water ewer
the rounded sides tapering on one end to the long curved (ibid., 713).
channeled spout, the exterior with a wide border of highly
stylized zoomorphs delineated in intaglio encircling the rim, A bronze yi bearing the same inscription is in the Palace
the loop handle formed by the arched body of a dragon with an Museum, Beijing and illustrated in Bronzes in the Palace
inward facing bottle-horned head reaching up from the base of Museum, Beijing, 1999, pl. 210.
the vessel to bite the rim, its long tail coiling outward, all raised
on four truncated cabriole legs, the interior with a twenty- $ 80,000-120,000
character inscription, possibly later added, translated as ‘Shu Гմ͋ ʮʩۃɞ˰ߏ ڡზម
Nan Fu made this yi-vessel for the lü-rite for wedding of consort
Huo. May her descendants for ten thousand years forever თ˖j
treasure and use it’, the surface with a rich olive-brown patina ՠӲ˨Ъމᎍࢊ⎩ࣚម Չɿɿ࢑࢑Չຬϋ͑ᘒ͜ Ԝ
and malachite encrustation
Length 14½ in., 37 cm Ը๕
؍׀͍ 1854 1906 ϗᔛdˋኇ
PROVENANCE Galeries de M M Durand Rueldˋኇd1902ϋ1˜27Ї2˜
Collection of Tadamasa Hayashi (1854-1906), Paris. 1˚dᇜ໮852
Galeries de M. M. Durand Ruel, Paris, 27th January-1st M Raymond Koechlin 1860 1931 dˋኇ
February 1902, lot 852.
Hotel Drouotdˋኇd1926ϋ6˜9Ї11˚dᇜ໮205
Collection of M. Raymond Koechlin (1860-1931), Paris.
ࡐ౱ᘽబˢ1990ϋ12˜11˚dᇜ໮7
Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 9th-11th June 1926, lot 205.
ࡐ౱Գɻ੻1998ϋ11˜16˚dᇜ໮147
Sotheby’s London, 11th December 1990, lot 7.
Christie’s London, 16th November 1998, lot 147. ̈و
ӓᏹʿᄎڠdݴ౳ᆄߕँմϞთڡზኜණ፽‘dɪ
LITERATURE
ऎd2005ϋdྡو341
Wang Tao and Liu Yu, A Selection of Early Chinese Bronzes
with Inscriptions from Sotheby’s and Christie’s Sales, Shanghai,
2005, pl. 341.

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