Page 178 - Chinese Works of Art Chritie's Mar. 22-23 2018

THE PROPERTY OF A HONG KONG PRIVATE COLLECTOR
904
A VERY RARE AND IMPORTANT LARGE BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, LEI
MIDDLE WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 10TH CENTURY BC
The heavily cast vessel is raised on a spreading, molded foot encircled by two bow-string bands. The body
is decorated with a band of pendant blades enclosing pairs of confronted dragons, and the shoulder is
decorated with a band of fower-like motifs with central ‘eyes’ alternating with whorl bosses, interrupted
by a pair of bovine-mask-surmounted, D-shaped handles that suspend loose rings, below a band of wave
patterns around the neck. The bronze has a blackish patina with small areas of malachite and cuprite
encrustation.

15¡ in. (39 cm.) high

$400,000-600,000
PROVENANCE
Warren King, Hong Kong, 1980s.

西周中期 青銅龍紋罍
Massive containers for wine, lei vessels, were produced from the late Shang to middle Eastern Zhou
periods (13th-7th century BC). Over this relatively long period of time, the form of lei vessels underwent
several distinctive stages of development. One of the most remarkable variations of lei vessels is the
fanglei, which is indeed the most imposing and most majestic of Chinese archaic bronzes, such as the
fanglei sold at Christie’s New York: Important Chinese Art from the Fujita Museum, 15 March 2017,
lot 524.
The present lei vessel, dated to the middle Western Zhou period, represents the transitional style
between the late Shang/early Western Zhou lei and the Eastern Zhou lei. Some of the most notable
characteristics of the middle Western Zhou lei, as seen on the present example, include a more
compressed shape, disappearance of the third D-shaped handle on one side of the lower body, and
the introduction of continuous geometric patterns around the neck. These features were inherited and
further developed by the Eastern Zhou lei vessels such as an 8th century BC example illustrated by
J. So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D.C., 1995,
pp. 202-3, no. 30.

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