AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, GUI EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY

the bombé sides rising from a high stepped foot to a wide flared rim, cast on each side with loop handles emerging from mythical-beast heads and suspending a pendant tab, each side of the body cast with bold taotie masks reserved on a plain ground and flanked by a small dragon and a zoomorphic creature,  bordered above by a band of alternating fire whorls and dragons centred by a small animal mask below the rim, the foot cast with a border of eight small S-shaped snakes centred by a bovine motif, the bronze with a rich green patina with traces of cuprite encrustation.

Collection of Hans Georg Oeder (d. 1937), Priemern, Altmark, Germany.
Sotheby's New York, 19^th June 1984, lot 22.
Sotheby's New York, 1^st April 2005, lot 155.

Bernhard Karlgren, 'New Studies on Chinese Bronzes', BMFEA, no. 9, Stockholm, 1937, pl XI, no. 295.

Bernhard Karlgren, 'Notes on the Grammar of Early Bronze Décor', BMFEA, no. 23, Stockholm, 1951, pl. 19 and fig. 423. 

There are approx. four recessed areas to the interior (the largest measuring 1.5 x 0.4cm). A 2cm deep scratch, a 2cm hairline scratch and nibbling to the rim, the bronze with a smooth pale green patina with cuprite encrustation to near the bottom and extensively to the interior and traces of mottled malachite encrustation.
"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."

The present gui is unusual for its flared rim although a closely related example of similar flared form and cast with a related border decoration flanking a taotie mask below the rim is illustrated in Kaogu, 1976, no. 1, p. 40, fig. 2 (2) and p. 41, fig. 4 (2). The gui was excavated from an early Western Zhou tomb site dated to about the eleventh century B.C. at Lingtai county, Gansu province.  See another vessel with an everted flaring rim, from the collection of Baron Hatvány sold in our New York rooms, 23^rd September 1995, lot 317.

A gui of slightly smaller dimensions and lacking the band decoration below the rim but similarly cast with a strongly flaring rim is illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington D.C., 1990, fig. 38.1, p. 362; and another related example was sold in our New York rooms, 19^th March 2007, lot 75. Compare also a vessel  from the collections of Norman C. Armitage and Nai Chi-Chang, sold in our New York rooms, 22^nd March 2001, lot 5; and another, formerly in the collection of Mr. Carleton Swift, Washington D.C., was also sold in our New York rooms, 17^th September 2003, lot 5.