Page 184 - Chinese Works of Art Chritie's Mar. 22-23 2018

THE PROPERTY OF A HONG KONG PRIVATE COLLECTOR
906
A RARE SMALL BRONZE VESSEL AND COVER
EARLY SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 7TH CENTURY BC
The vessel is of oblong section and pouch-like form, and is intricately cast on the sides with three registers
of interlaced dragons with snake-like heads, the fat cover similarly decorated. The bronze has a silver-grey
patina with small areas of malachite encrustation.
2¿ in. (5.4 cm.) high, ebony stand
$15,000-25,000

PROVENANCE
Lai Loy, Hong Kong, 1980s.
EXHIBITED
Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes,
12 October - 2 December 1990.
LITERATURE
J. Rawson and E. Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 128-29, no. 36.
A small covered vessel of similar form, but decorated with a large intertwined dragon motif, from a tomb
of the State of Guo in modern day Sanmenxia city, Henan province, is illustrated in Shangcunling guoguo
mudi, Beijing, 1959, pl. XXXIII:2. See, also, a similar small covered vessel sold at Christie’s New York,
15 September 2011, lot 1111; and another sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1249.
春秋早期 青銅蟠虺紋小蓋罐

(detail)

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