AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL VESSEL, GU SHANG DYNASTY, CA 1100 BC

with a plain trumpet-shaped neck and flared hollow foot, the central swelling section cast in low relief with a band of taotie masks, the faces with raised bosses for eyes, the surface with malachite encrustation

Sotheby's London, 15th April 1980, lot 11.

Good general condition, with areas of encrustation to the foot, the sides, the rim and the interior. There are also nibbles to the rim. There is an X-ray of this bronze available for viewing in the department.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Gu vessels of this form and decoration are typical of the Erligang phase that pre-dates the Anyang period of the Shang dynasty. See a gu in the Zhengzhou City Museum, also with a single band of taotie decoration and with three wide quatrefoil apertures, datable to the Erligang phase and excavated at Minggonglu in Zhengzhou, Henan province, the centre of power at that period, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji, vol. 1, Beijing, 1996, pl. 149; another included in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, 1998, pl. 29, where the Zhengtou example is reproduced again, fig. 29:1; and a third vessel from Panlongcheng in Huangpi county, Hubei province, an important Erligang city site which revealed foundations of a Shang palace, published in Wenwu, 1976, no. 2, p. 34, fig. 37:6.

Robert Bagley in Shang Ritual Vessels in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Cambridge, Mass., 1987, p. 217, notes that gu of this stout form, usually with a band of decoration only around the narrowest part, as with the present piece, represents early pieces of this type and the thickening of the middle section, serving to divide the vessel into three distinct parts is seen only occasionally during the Erligang phase but became the standard subsequently. Later a separate band was added to the foot and by the end of the Erligang phase and the beginning of the Anyang period gu vessels evolved towards a taller and a more slender form.

Compare another gu included in the exhibition Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessel, Gilt Bronzes and Early Ceramics, Eskenazi, London, 1973, cat.no. 1; one in the Arthur M. Sackler collection, published op.cit., Cambridge, Mass., 1987, p. 218, fig. 25.1; and a vessel from the Robert Ellsworth collection sold in our New York rooms, 19^th March 2002, lot 2.