AN EXCEPTIONAL ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND COVER (YOU) EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 10TH CENTURY BC |

well cast of oval section, the slightly compressed pear-shaped body supported on a splayed foot, encircled by a band of pairs of crested birds confronted by taotie masks all on a leiwen ground, the band interrupted on each side by a loop supporting the U-shaped bail handle with bovine-mask terminals cast with further bird motifs and lozenge-shaped bosses, the fitted and domed cover with a matching bird frieze, projecting tabs and hollow oval knop, a smooth gray-green patina with malachite encrustation, the interior of the vessel and cover each with a five-character inscription reading Wei zuo bao zun yi (Wei made this precious ritual vessel), two Japanese wood boxes (6)

Japanese Private Collection.
Sotheby's New York, 11th September 2012, lot 163. 

The body is in good condition. The knop of the cover has a consolidated diagonal crack running from the rim edge. The bronze with expected wear, minor corrosion (visible particularly at the rim of the cover knop), small nicks to rims and edges and some scattered small pitting; all consistent with age.
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.

The box for this lot is inscribed with a note by Zouroku Hata.  Outstanding for its remarkably preserved crisp decoration of crested birds over a leiwen ground, which complements the elegant pear-shape body, this you is characteristic of vessels made in the early Western Zhou dynasty, as seen in its slightly compressed form and the projecting triangles on the cover. Bronze you are sacrificial wine vessels that emerged as one of the major ritual receptacles in the late Shang dynasty and remained prominent until the middle Western Zhou dynasty.

Similar you include one illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. 2B, Washington D.C., 1990, pls 72 and 74 and fig. 114.4; another in the Sumitomo Collection, published in Sen-oku Hakko Kan. Sumitomo Collection, Kyoto, 1982, pl. 23; and a third, formerly in the Luff Collection and included in William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 24a, sold in these rooms, 7th December 1983, lot 52. See also a related example of rounder form, illustrated in Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999. pl. 171. 

Further related you include one published in Jessica Rawson, The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992, pl. 40; another, illustrated in Sueji Umehara, Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Japan, vol. 1, Osaka, 1959, pl. 75; one in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated in Charles Fabens Kelley and Chen Meng-Chia, Chinese Bronzes from the Buckingham Collection, Chicago, 1946, pl. XXVII, and a fourth in the Idemitsu Museum, illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 69.