A massive archaic bronze ritual wine vessel and cover (hu) Spring and Autumn period

the compressed pear-shaped body supported on a tall spreading foot, crisply cast on a leiwen ground with two undulating wave bands enclosing detached C-scrolls and O-shapes around the lower bulging body, below a smaller register of stylized dragons and another wave band at the neck, interrupted by a pair of projecting loop handles issuing from reticulated bovine masks, all above three rows of overlapping pendant lappets around the pierced foot, the flattened cover cast with a zoomorphic band around the rim, surmounted by eight everted reticulated lappets encircling a large central medallion of entwining serpents enclosed by a sawtooth border, the surface with a smooth gray patina with light malachite encrustation (2)

Acquired by the present owner in the 1980s; prior to that, on the Hong Kong art market in the early 1980s.

Min Chiu Society exhibition, 1999 - 2000.
Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2001 - 2006.

Four of the petals on the cover have been repaired and 3 of them are rebuilt from new pieces. The body has casting holes around the foot. The horns of the beasts are restuck. Under UV light the vessel is structurally in very good condition.
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.

This massive vessel with its dramatic crown-shaped cover is a magnificent example of the flamboyant style of bronze vessels that was developed in the latter part of the Western Zhou period and continued to become more elaborate in the early Eastern Zhou.

For the development of this form and decoration compare a hu from Zhuangbai, Fufeng, Shaanxi province, from the end of the middle Western Zhou period, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, 1990, vol. IIA, figs.135 and 143a right, with a related square-sectioned hu with crown-shaped cover excavated at Jingshan, Hubei, from the early Eastern Zhou, ibid. figs. 153 bottom right and fig. 179. The present hu, which belongs to the later, more decorative type, is particularly unusual in the way the leiwen design has been shaped, including slanting and triangular forms of keyfret. 

A pair of related hu, smaller in size and with different handles, one lacking its cover, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 7th July 2003, lot 621. Compare also a much smaller and more coarsely cast hu of related type in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan. Qingtong juan, Hong Kong, 1994, pl. 0700; and another smaller vessel, lacking its cover and cast with a bolder design divided into two large bands, sold in our London rooms, 7th June 1994, lot 3. A further comparable example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is published in Masterworks of Chinese Bronze in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1969, pl. 36.