Page 16 - Bonhams Sept 2016 CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS
P. 16
8016 Provenance
AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, GUI Purchased from F. Kusaka, Shogado, Tokyo, 22 December 1958
Early Western Zhou dynasty
The vessel of compressed globular form, rising on a high, The decoration of this vessel displays the quintessential stylistic
undecorated, splayed foot, the body of bombe shape, the waisted changes that define that evolution of bronze design at the beginning
neck flanked by a pair of loop handles issuing from ram-form masks, of the Zhou dynasty. Most prominent in the design is the dominance
the handles meeting the base of the body at square pendant tabs, the of stylized animal motifs with streamlined shapes, a phenomenon that
shoulder cast with a narrow register within string borders, containing began in the late Shang period and accelerated in the early Western
two pairs of confronted, stylized kui dragons with raised eyes on a Zhou. René-Yvon Lefèbvre d’Argencé illustrates two very similar gui
leiwen ground, bisected by an horned animal mask in high relief to vessels in Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage
each side, all below a flared rim. Collection, San Francisco, 1977, p. 79, No. XXXI. A very similar gui
8 1/4in (21cm) wide was sold by Bonhams London, 16 May 2013, sale 20579, lot 411.
Many early Western Zhou gui vessels have tiered feet, however
US$15,000 - 20,000 the current vessel has a curving, flared foot, very similar to another
example sold by Bonhams London, 14 May 2015, sale 22234, lot 4.
西周早期 青銅夔龍紋象耳簋式爐
14 | BONHAMS
