Page 82 - Status & Ritual Chinese Archaic Bronzes

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A BRONZE FLARING VASE, ZUN
EARLY WESTERN ZHOU PERIOD (CIRCA 10TH CENTURY BC)

西周早期 青銅饕餮紋尊

銘文:「X乍寶尊彝」

The bulbous mid-section is boldly cast with a wide band depicting taotie
masks reserved on a leiwen ground, set between concentric bands encircling
the faring neck and the spreading foot. The underside of the base is decorated
in low-relief with a stylised animal, and there is an inscription to the interior.
The surface has a mottled dark-grey tone with light malachite encrustation.

9º in. (23.5 cm.) high

£20,000-30,000 $32,000-47,000
€28,000-41,000

PROVENANCE

The collection of Felix Guggenheim (1904-1976) , Beverly Hills, California.
With Rare Art, Inc., New York, before 14 January 1981.
From an important private European collection.

LITERATURE

G. Kuwayama, Ancient Ritual Bronzes of China, Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, 1976, p.44, no. 24.

(inscription)

(view of base) The inscription consists of the fve characters ‘X zuo bao zun yi ‘ which can
be read as : ‘X made this precious sacrifcial vessel.’ X may be read as a name
or a clan sign.

An Early Western Zhou gui in the Sackler Collections bears an identical
inscription, illustrated by J. Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the
Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, pp. 404-405.

Compare an almost identical zun in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, published
in Wenwu 1995.6; and the similar Shang dynasty Fuxin zun in the National
Palace Collection, Taiwan, illustrated in Masterworks of Chinese Bronze in the
National Palace Museum (Supplement), Taipei, 1973, no. 23; p.103.

A zun of similar form, also with taotie set between concentric bands in the
Arthur Sackler collection, is illustrated by J. Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual
Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington D.C, vol. IIB, pp.
554-555.

See also a similar fared zun in the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated in The Freer
Chinese Bronzes, vol. I Catalogue, Washington 1967, pp.78-82.

來源:
美國加州貝弗利希爾斯重要藏家Felix Guggenheim (1904-1976)
私人舊藏
於1981年1月14日前購自美國紐約古董商Rare Art, Inc.
重要歐洲私人珍藏
著錄: G. Kuwayama 《Ancient Ritual Bronzes of China》，1976
年，第44頁，圖24

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