AN IMPRESSIVE ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSEL (FANG LEI) EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY

Collection of Takeuchi Kinpei, Tokyo (until 1934).
Sotheby's New York, 30th March 2006, lot 258.
Thereafter with the present owner.

Katori Hotsuma, Shina no kinko, Tokyo, 1934, pl. 22.

The overall condition of this piece is good. UV light showed that the piece has no breaks or cracks and no restoration. The rings appear to be intact. The surface around the decoration may have been cleaned at the neck and at the top of the taotie masks to show off the decoration. However, much of the surface has the original beautiful bright greenish-blue encrustation. On the inside neck is a cartouche featuring an inscription with ten pictograms.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Like all bronze vessels of rectangular section, this fang lei shape is very rare. A similar piece is illustrated in Umehara Sueji, Shina-kodo seikwa, vol.1, part 1, Osaka, 1933, pl. 48, at that time in the collection of the Berlin State Museums; another example similarly lacking its cover in the Museum fur Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin, is published in Ausgewaehlte Werke Ostasiatischer Kunst, Berlin, 1970, cat.no. 2; and a related piece with additional masks on the cover, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, is illustrated in Rene-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argence, Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1977, pl. XXVI left. See also a fang lei in the Shanghai Museum illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 5, Beijing, 1996, pl. 178; and another related piece, from Shaanxi Fufeng Shaogong Gongshe, included in Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Cambridge, Mass., 1990, p.607, fig. 94.8.

Compare also a closely related fang lei, but with two raised lines instead of the design band on the foot, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 16th November 1973, lot 6; and one with undecorated neck sold in these rooms, 4th November 1978, lot 314.