Page 10 - March 17 2017 Chinese Art NYC, Christies

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTION

1003
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU

SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC
The trumpet-shaped upper section is
undecorated, the rounded middle section is cast in
intaglio with two taotie masks between borders of
circles, repeated above the two masks composed
of scrolls and leiwen fat-cast on the spreading
foot, which is cast on the interior with a dedication
to fu ding preceded by a single graph of a human
fgure in profle, possibly di. The mottled patina is
of olive-green color.
8º in. (21 cm.) high

$6,000-8,000

PROVENANCE

Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987) Collections.
Else Sackler (1913-2000) Collection, and thence
by descent within the family.

LITERATURE

R. Poor, Bronze Ritual Vessels of Ancient China,
(slide lecture), Intercultural Arts Press, New York,
1968.
Barnard and Cheung, Rubbings and Hand Copies
of Bronze Inscriptions in Chinese, Japanese,
European, American and Australasian Collections,
Taipei, 1978, no. 1274 (inscription only).
Yan Yiping, Jinwen Zongji (Corpus of Bronze
Inscriptions), Taipei, 1983, no. 6145 (inscription
only).
Yinzhou jinwen jicheng (Compendium of Yin
and Zhou Bronze Inscriptions), The Institute
of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, Beijing, 1984, no. 7108 (inscription only).
R. W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur
M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler
Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1987, pp. 260-1,
no. 41.
商 巴父丁觚

(inscription)

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