Page 46 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York

The four-character inscription may be translated
as “Rui archivist/oficial made this li”. Rui is the
name of a Western Zhou polity ruled by a branch
of the Zhou royal family, surnamed Ji, who also
adopted Rui as their clan name. Between 2005
and 2010, a group of elite burials were excavated
near Liangdaicun, Hancheng city, Shaanxi
province with spectacular jades, gold objects
and bronzes, some of which bear names of the
Rui nobility (See Shanghai Museum and Shaanxi
Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Golden Age
of the Rui State, Shanghai, 2012). Although the
Hancheng Liangdaicun burials generally date
from the late Western Zhou into early Spring and
Autumn periods, Rui nobles have been in the
region since early Western Zhou.
The present li is among a handful of early Rui
bronzes that have entered various collections.
According to Zhang Maorong from the Shaanxi
Normal University, only two Ruigongshu gui
found in Huangxian, Shandong province and the
Ruibo gui in the Shouyang Studio can be dated
before the late Western Zhou dynasty among
thirty-three known Rui bronzes. (See Shanghai
Museum and Art Museum of the Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Zhongguo gudai
qingtongqi guoji yantaohui lunwenji (Collection
of Essays prepared for the International
Conference on Ancient Chinese Bronzes), 2010,
p. 67). In addition to three early Rui bronzes
Professor Zhang cited, we have found four more
examples: the present Ruishi li; the Ruiji gui in
National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in
Gugong xizhou jinwen lu (Western Zhou Bronze
Inscriptions in the Palace Museum), Taipei, 2001,
no. 23; the Ruigong gui exhibited and illustrated
by J.J. Lally & Co., Ancient Chinese Bronzes, New
York, 2011, no. 3; and the Ruiboqi hu now in the
Shanghai Museum, exhibited and illustrated by
Eskenazi Ltd., Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition:
Twelve Chinese Masterworks, London, 2010, no.
1. The Ruigongshu gui, the Ruibo gui, and the
Ruigong gui are of the same pedestaled gui form
and are decorated with very similar elaborate
phoenix motifs, and can be dated to the middle
Western Zhou dynasty. The Ruiboqi hu are
slightly later than the Ruigong/Ruibo gui based
on its design and style of its inscription. The
present Ruishi li and the National Palace Museum
Ruiji gui, both dates from the later part of the
early Western Zhou dynasty appear to be the
earliest known Rui bronzes.

44