Page 33 - March 23, 2022 Sotheby's NYC Fine Chinese Works of Art

Portrait of Paulette Goddard (1910-1990) ©Moviestore Collection
Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
Paulette Goddard (1910-1990) 肖像 ©Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy
Stock Photo

With a compressed globular body and broadly flaring example, also cast with an one-character inscription but
mouth, the present bronze gui is exceptional for its elegant with mythical beast handles, excavated at Xiejiagou, Qingjian
silhouette. Vessels of this form are rare, as they differ from county, Shaanxi province in 1977, and now in the Shaanxi
the more commonly found pieces with deep U-shaped body History Museum, Xi’an, illustrated in op. cit., no. 03453.
from the late Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). The cicada The inscribed pictogram, which resembles a wheel, is the
blades right beneath the rim are also rather unusual as symbol of a clan active during the late Shang dynasty. Less
typically there would only be a single band of mythical beast than ten extant vessels from this clan are recorded, including
masks around the neck. Gui are containers for cooked rice two bronze ding, one of which is now in the Metropolitan
or other grains, which became popular in the late Shang Museum of Art, New York; two gu, preserved separately in the
period and were in use throughout the early Western Zhou Palace Museum, Beijing and Shanghai Museum, Shanghai;
dynasty (c. 1046-256 BC). Without the addition of handles, a jia, formerly in collection of Harold G. Wacker in New York;
the present piece represents one of the earliest versions of a pan, now in the Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne; a ge,
gui vessels created. also in the Palace Museum, Beijing; and a jue, known only
Two closely related gui, but of smaller size, are preserved from its inscription. The above bronzes are all published in
in major museums. One is in the National Palace Museum, the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social
Taipei (accession no. gu-tong-2175), recently included in Sciences, ed., Yinzhou jinwen jicheng [Compendium of Yin,
the Museum’s exhibition Appraisal of the Past: The Imperial and Zhou bronze inscriptions], Beijing, 2007, nos 01151,
Bronze Collection during the Qianlong Reign, Taipei, 2021. 01152, 06753, 06754, 09148, 10010, 10746, 07717.
According to the Museum, a vessel of similar form and Paulette Goddard (1910-1990) was an American actress
decoration was unearthed in Guojiazhuang, Anyang, Henan and model most notable for her Hollywood film career in
province. The other was formerly in the collection of Henry the 1930s-50s. Born in New York and raised in Kansas City,
J. Oppenheim, and is now in the British Museum, London Missouri, she quickly rose to fame as a result of her marriage
(accession no. 1947,0712.420). to the actor Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), appearing as the
Compare also two closely related gui of slight larger size, leading lady alongside him in Modern Times and The Great
one in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, and the other in the Dictator. She signed with Paramount pictures in 1939 and
Shouyang Studio, both with an one-character inscription and became one of the studio’s biggest stars. Her later marriages
illustrated in Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji to actor and Emmy Awards winner Burgess Meredith (1907-
tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of inscriptions and images of 1997), and writer Erich Maria Remarque (1989-1970) also
bronzes from Shang and Zhou dynasties], vol. 7, Shanghai, received substantial media attention.
2012, nos 03423 and 03446. See another similarly decorated

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