Page 88 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

166. Ritual bronze wine vessel gu
Shang dynasty, Erligang period, circa 16 - 14 centuries bc.
th
th
商代二里岡時期青銅觚
Height: 17.8 cm

An extremely rare wine vessel cast in the form of a stubby, Provenance:
tubular body with a trumpet-like upper section and a ▪ Christian Deydier / Oriental Bronzes Ltd., London,
flared openwork base. The central and lower parts of the U.K.
vessel’s body are both decorated with a frieze of two taotie ▪ President Jacques Chirac Collection, Paris, France.
masks, each of which is composed of a pair of large-eyed ▪ Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, France.
kui dragons, shown in profile, confronting each other
across a vertical flange. The wide area between these two Similar example:
bands of decoration is cast in openwork with geometric ▪ Very few gu vessels of this type and with openwork
patterns. design are known.
▪ A very similar gu, with openwork motif, also from the
The vessel has a nice green and grey patina. Erligang period and excavated at Panlongcheng, Hebei
province, is published by Bagley R., Shang Ritual
Bronzes in the Arthur Sackler Collection, Harvard
University Press, Cambridge 1987, p. 232, fig. 30.1.

88
88