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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION

909
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND
COVER, HU

LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD,
6TH-5TH CENTURY BC
The pear-shaped body is cast around the sides
with seven bands of intricate stylized dragon-
pattern bordered by narrow indented bands with
raised edges. The neck is cast with four loose
rings above a pair of taotie mask handles on the
shoulder, which are attached to a chain and yoke
handle that is also attached to the cover. The
cover is cast with a central whorl pattern and
surmounted by four small masks suspending
loose rings. The surface has light malachite and
cuprite encrustation.
13º in. (33.6 cm.) high, cloth box

$20,000-30,000

PROVENANCE

Private collection, Hong Kong, 1992.
The Tsui Museum of Art.
Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1253.

EXHIBITED

Singapore, The Empress Place Museum, Gems of
Chinese Art: Selections of Ceramics and Bronzes
from the Tsui Art Foundation, 1992, no. 9.
Denmark, Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Empire of the
Dragons: Chinese Art Treasures Through 4000
Years from Hong Kong, Sweden and Denmark, 9
September - 26 November 1995, no. 12.

A similar bronze hu and cover with chain-link
handle, but decorated with geometric patterns, is
illustrated by J. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes
from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur
M. Sackler Foundation, 1995, p. 251, fg. 42.1.
According to J. So, p. 250, “hu vessels of this
type, typically set on a low ring foot patterned to
resemble twisted rope, with a lid attached to a
long chain handle, and four small movable rings
at the neck, have been recovered mostly from
sites in Henan.” Compare, also, a hu and cover of
similar form and decoration, but missing the link
between the cover and the chain handle, from the
collection of the Harvard University Art Museums,
illustrated ibid., p. 251, fg. 42.2.

春秋晚期 青銅蟠虺紋提鏈蓋壺

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