A bronze ritual food vessel (Gui), Late Shang / early Western Zhou dynasty | 商末 / 西周初 天黽父癸簋

A bronze ritual food vessel (Gui)

Late Shang / early Western Zhou dynasty

商末 / 西周初 天黽父癸簋

銘文：

天黽父癸

the deep rounded body with an everted rim all raised on a tall splayed foot, the band below the rim cast with kuilong in profile against a leiwen ground and punctuated by three taotie masks in high relief, the body with a repeating leiwen diamond pattern with each unit centered by a protruding boss, the foot encircled by a further band of low-relief archaistic 'dragon' patterns, the interior cast with three characters tian min fu gui, the bronze with a green patina and a few patches of malachite and russet-toned oxidation to the interior and exterior surfaces, the pierced wood cover surmounted by a grayish jade finial (2)

Diameter 8 ⅞ in., 22.5 cm