Page 94 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art 09/13/17

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PROPERTY FROM A SAN FRANCISCO PRIVATE COLLECTION

A RARE PAIR OF BRONZE RITUAL WINE
VESSELS (JUE)
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH
CENTURY BC

each deep U-shaped body supported on three tall, splayed
legs of triangular section, decorated around the neck with
a narrow frieze of hooked dragon motifs arranged in two
confronted pairs, one bisected by a loop handle, beneath a
long spout and pointed tail forming the rim and surmounted by
a pair of mushroom-shaped nials, a two-character pictogram
underneath the handle, reading X (personal name) Ya, a
grayish-green-patina with malachite encrustation (2)
Height 8 in., 20.3 cm

PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s London, 9th June 1987, lot 6.
Sotheby’s London, 10th November 2004, lot 501.

LITERATURE
Wang Tao and Liu Yu, A Selection of Early Chinese Bronzes
with Inscriptions from Sotheby’s and Christie’s Sales, Shanghai,
2005, pl. 266.

$ 40,000-60,000

1987 6 9 6
2004 11 10 501

2005 266

92 SOTHEBY’S