A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL (ZHI) EARLY - MIDDLE WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY |

well cast with the pear-shaped body rising from a splayed foot to a wide flared rim, decorated around the neck with a band of kuilong against a leiwen ground, interrupted by a pair of raised ram-head masks, all above a narrow band of highly abstract winged-creature motifs encircling the foot, the interior with a ten-character inscription reading X zuo lü yi sun zi yong yan chu ru, the surface mottled with areas of malachite encrustation

Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 8th May 1980, lot 45.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20th May 1981, lot 897.
Offered at Sotheby's New York, 7th December 1983, lot 57.
Sotheby's London, 11th December 1984, lot 14.
Sotheby's New York, 19th September 2001, lot 9.

Wang Tao and Liu Yu, A Selection of Early Chinese Bronzes with Inscriptions from Sotheby's and Christie's Sales, Shanghai, 2007, pl. 190.

There is a horizontal patch repair to the lower body, measuring approx. 6 cm long with an associated vertical crack, approx. 4 cm long. The body with a few other small filled repairs. The rim with a short crack. Some areas with heavier encrustation, particularly inside the rim. Both rims with some expected nicks and the surface overall with some pitting and expected wear, consistent with age. X-Ray available upon request.
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.

Compare a slightly larger bronze zhi, cast with a very similar design band around the neck but with a different animal mask, inscribed to the interior with twenty-seven characters, dated early Zhou dynasty, in the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., published in John Alexander Pope, Rutherford John Gettens, James Cahill, et. al, The Freer Chinese Bronzes, vol. I, Washington, 1967, pl. 73. Similar decoration can also be seen on a four-legged bronze you and a zun, excavated from the tomb of Yu Bo Ji of the early to middle Western Zhou period at Baoji, Shaanxi province. See Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, 1990, p. 35, figs 31 and 32. See also a related early Western Zhou zhi with three characters cast to the interior, illustrated in Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of inscriptions and images of bronzes from Shang and Zhou dynasties], vol. 19, Shanghai, 2012, no. 10463.